During the Creek County Commissioners’ meeting on Monday, Dec. 9th, an inspector from ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) Bruce Martin said he had bad news for the county. Roy Smith, the first deputy commissioner for District 3, was taking Lane Whitehouse’s place since he was absent. The bad news was for District 3, in particular.
There is a pony truss bridge over Catfish Creek in Bristow which has deteriorated to the point that the listed 3-ton sign is overrated by 3 tons. It, in fact, has a 0-ton (zero) rating.
The closure notice began on November 14, 2019.
Mr. Martin stated this 80-foot-long, one-lane bridge in rural Creek County on W. 231st St. South was built in 1914 and has been subject to many repairs over the years. He cited the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) statutes that refer to this particular bridge. It is to be closed 30 days from the original notice. It must remain closed until “strengthening, shoring, and repairs” can be done to restore its 3-ton rating. It would cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to reach a rating of 3-tons.
Further, “programming it for ‘replacement’ but not closing it is not an option.” The notification was dated November 14, 2019, and the derelict bridge “cannot be used by the traveling public” after Saturday, December 14, 2019. “No ifs, ands, or buts,” ODOT’s representative Martin said.
He stated that the public should be notified ASAP and that recently people were still driving fast over this bridge. He said there should be signage on the bridge and loads of dirt in front to prevent any traffic. Then he turned the podium over to Troy Travis, PE, from (H. W.) Lochner Engineering, Inc. from Oklahoma City, who has inspected the bridge more than once, and who would explain the “magnitude of the condition.”
Mr. Travis explained that two years ago, bridge 00388 (National Bridge Inventory number) was rated a 3-ton bridge, but there had been a collision on the bridge that severely damaged the northwest post’s integrity. He explained there was a “drop at the panel point…a kink in the compression line…one inch one way, and three inches the other way.” The bridge is twisted, and when old truss bridges become twisted, there are only expensive alternatives.
Commission Chairman Leon Warner asked what an appropriate fix might be.
Mr. Travis responded that an engineering firm might charge “$20,000 just to show up on the job.”
Mr. Martin stated that the “Creek Nation might work on it.” He said they had completed a design and were looking into an environmental study, but at present “there was no funding for replacement.”
He said the drainage area for Catfish Creek was “massive” and that the creek “gets big fast.”
Furthermore, if it is not closed, Martin stated, the federal government will withhold all federal funds for all allocations in Creek County until it is closed. This means school funds, sewer plant funds, and much more. Martin said the safety of the traveling public was his main concern and that the bridge had lived “a good long life.”
He suggested a CED (Circuit Engineering District, the temporary joining of 2 or more counties for a project) which might consider a joint venture for an “Emergency Project” because this closure is a “hindrance” to the public. (The detour is over 6 miles and affects dozens of families.) Mr. Travis from Lochner said he was in the “chain of custody” and asked that the photographic proof of closure be emailed to him. He reminded the commissioners that this would allow him to inform the emergency vehicles to reroute due to the loss of the bridge.
On a positive note, Mr. Martin from ODOT said that 4 bridges that had been previously closed had reopened as 4-ton bridges.
Editor’s Note: (Later on Monday afternoon, the Sapulpa Times drove to the site of the bridge and interviewed two different people traveling the bridge who had no idea it was closing. One was Paike McNeil, a student, whose “whole family” lived in the area and an anonymous rancher who was frantically moving all his cows’ hay from his home on one side of the bridge to his field on the other side of the 0-ton bridge. He made 5 trips in an hour and continued as we left.)
