Bridgeport Pony Bridge Construction On Track
BY RICHARD STEPHENS, JR.
Workers from Oklahoma Bridge Company pour concrete in an abutment on Bridgeport Bridge's north end on July 14, 2023.
On This Day in 1934, the first vehicles crossed the brand new bridge spanning the Canadian River in Oklahoma. Today, it’s in the middle of a rebuild to ensure it lasts for another century.
Construction on the 1933 Bridgeport Bridge may seem to be taking forever, but Rick Howland, District 4 Assistant Engineer for Urban Construction/Maintenance Engineer, and Zackary Holt, on-site bridge Project Engineer for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), said good progress is being made.
What is the schedule of work?
Work began eight-and-a-half-month ago (Oct. 31, 2022). A contract worth $35,705,909 was issued to the Oklahoma Bridge Company (OBC) to rehabilitate the bridge which is on US-281 (Route 66) and straddles Caddo and Canadian counties. With 570 days of work scheduled (19 months), the original estimated completion date was May 23, 2024. According to Howland in an email on July 12, he thinks they may be two months ahead of schedule.
What was removed?
The existing bridge deck and steel joist that supported the deck were removed. Additionally, “The steel trusses were removed and are being rehabilitated to be reinstalled to give the bridge the same appearance before work started,” Howland wrote. JK Industries is sandblasting them and adding sealant and paint. Many of the 38 tresses are complete.
Completed Pony tresses for the Bridgeport Bridge are stored, ready to be put on.
What repair is occurring?
ODOT had the top five feet of each column shortened to install a concrete pier cap to support the new steel joist and new bridge deck. Precast deck panels made off site are being installed on the new bridge deck. Howland added, “Concrete deck panels have placed on approximately half of the bridge.” Horizontal steel girders sit ready to accept the rest of the concrete deck panels.
What remains to be done?
Howland said besides adding the remaining bridge deck panels and trusses, “a two-inch latex modified concrete overlay will be placed on the new deck panels. New concrete parapet walls on the outside edge of bridge deck the length of the bridge. Reinstall steel trusses.”
For 90 years, people have parked on both ends of the bridge to walk it and visit the Canadian River. Plans are to add a parking area on one side of the bridge to allow for safe viewing and photography; interpretive panels will also be installed.
The bridge will be 24 feet longer and 4 feet wider too, providing more support to the bridge’s weight at either end and increasing safety for the numerous trucks that use it. There won’t be a pedestrian walkway.
Zackery Holt, on-site Bridgeport Bridge Project Engineer, is putting concrete in containers for strength testing at an ODOT lab.
Holt spends each day on-site, coordinating hundreds of details. On July 14, as he was mixing OBC concrete and putting samples in tubes for strength testing, he said, “This has easily been one of my favorite projects, because the unique challenges that have come.” As examples, he listed environmental, new types of materials being used, and reusing trusses.
The Oklahoma Route 66 Association and ODOT were significant voices in rehabilitating the bridge – not destroying or building another – by adding a new surface and reattaching the original camelback pony trusses.
The good news is the projects on schedule – maybe even ahead – but patience is needed because construction will take another 10 months to complete.
