Monday, January 8th 2001, 12:00 am
COLBERT, Okla. (AP) -- Businesses and county officials in Texas and Oklahoma are raising money to save a rusting, one-lane bridge over the Red River that has been deemed unsafe for vehicles.
The Carpenter's Bluff bridge has been a link between Bryan County in Oklahoma and Grayson County in Texas for nearly a century, its traffic ranging from rail cars to pickup trucks.
Every day, an estimated 600 vehicles cross the 1,200-foot-long bridge, which residents describe as a vital thoroughfare for hundreds of Oklahomans who work in an industrial base in Grayson County -- and for Texans who visit Oklahoma.
But an engineering company recently recommended that vehicles not be allowed on the bridge because of a hole in one of its underwater concrete piers.
Federal highway officials want it fixed or closed.
"It could last another five years or another 10 minutes," said Dave Raybern, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Transportation Department. "Things need to start happening."
Officials in both Bryan and Grayson counties -- jointly responsible for the bridge -- are trying to come up with the $30,000 it will cost to repair it, but have been warned by Federal Highway Administration officials that progress needs to come soon.
The bridge was completed in 1910 to accommodate the Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, said local historian Emma Grace Capshaw.
By 1964, the railroad quit running across the bridge. In 1966 the bridge became the property of Bryan and Grayson counties. It was then paved for vehicle traffic, which has been constant ever since.
Texas divers first found the pier hole in September, which was verified by the Wingfield Consulting Engineering Co. in Antlers.
Raybern said Bryan County could apply for some reimbursement from state and county bridge funds once the bridge is repaired.
They also might qualify for federal funding.
Grayson County Judge Horace Groff said his county has committed $15,000 for repairs, with the possibility of more if needed.
The Denison Chamber of Commerce estimates 30 percent of Grayson County's work force -- about 15,000 workers -- comes from Oklahoma.
"I hope we never see the day where we don't have a bridge across the river there," Groff said. "We're committed to cost-sharing the difference."
Dallas-based Texas Industries, which operates a sand plant on both sides of the river, has agreed to supply free materials and perhaps a diver to help with repairs.
"It's just a very viable link and something they don't have the money to fix," said Gary Allen, the company's area manager. "We doubt that we'd absorb all the costs, but we're definitely looking at what kind of participation and what we can do to assist."
Officials predict it would take a maximum of a few weeks for the repairs to be done, but some locals worry the bridge's days could be numbered.
"All of us have a real sinking feeling that once they close it, they're going to keep it that way," Capshaw said. "That's what we're afraid of."
January 8th, 2001
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