Arkansas River Navigation Channel Closed Near Fort Gibson After Strong Winds Cause Damage On Bridge Construction Site

The navigation channel for the Arkansas River Bridge on Highway 62 between Muskogee and Fort Gibson is closed Friday night after two construction beams fell into the channel and one of them is still dangling from the bridge.

The bridge has been under construction since the fall of 2022 and has been narrowed down to one lane on either side.

The City of Fort Gibson says high winds caused the construction beams to fall into the Arkansas River.

The City says it was told by ODOT that no one crossing the bridge at that time was in danger.

City officials say ODOT said the bridge is still safe for drivers and that the traffic on the bridge will continue as normal.

They say the channel will be closed until the wind dies down and someone can get the beams out of the water.

Cody Preston, who works in construction, says this is the first time he’s seen something like this happen.

“I can’t say I’ve even seen it on social media or anything like that,” said Preston. “That’s going to be a pretty decent setback right there. It takes a while just to put the beam up. The one beam if you look over there, it looks like there’s two beams bolted together. So it’s going to be time-consuming getting that taken care of.”

Preston says if something happens like this, it could push back the date the project gets finished.

“Usually they spend a couple of days at minimum setting the stuff, and that’s just getting it up there,” said Preston. “Now with it being amiss, it’s probably going to take double or triple the time to just get it back down and then also have to get beams back in and put them back in place now.”

This is part of a $75 million project to replace both the eastbound and westbound bridges over the Arkansas River and construction is set to be complete a year from now.