The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The historic Cow Bayou Swing Bridge reconstruction is on time and on target. The project is scheduled to be completed by March 2015, according to TxDOT. Crews are currently working on the fender system and deck spans.

RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn

The Cow Bayou Swing Bridge project is on time and on target with less than a year to complete according to Sarah Dupre, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer. Dupre said work is currently being done in the fender system- an underwater guardrail that protects the bridge from boats ramming into it. Crews have also completed seven out of 12 deck spans which are the portions of the bridge driven on, she explained.

“We will continue to replace the fender system and to have the deck spans poured,” Dupre said.

Fifty percent of the turn mechanism has also been installed or ordered to make the machinery up to date. All four lanes on the Cow Bayou Overpass Bridge bypassing the swing bridge are now open. One lane was closed during the July 4th holiday to repair a guardrail, causing traffic jams. It is scheduled to be completed in March 2015.

In a prior Record article, it was reported phase two of the rehabilitation and historic preservation of the Cow Bayou Swing Bridge started on January 31, 2014. Texas Department of Transportation officials then made plans on future lane closures and re-routing traffic.

The $9.5 million project will cover 0.991 miles and is scheduled to take 476 working days to complete. Workers will make repairs while keeping the bridge, the control building and other parts historically accurate. They will use new and the working old parts to restore the control desk while the new building will mimic the original structure.

The Cow Bayou Swing Bridge is one of only two remaining center pivot swing bridges of it’s kind remaining in Texas. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The Rainbow Bridge was listed to the N.R. in 1996.

It was history in the making when an estimated 3,000 people attended the 1941 dedication. The ribbon was cut by Miriam David, the daughter of Julis H. David, Sr., the president of the Orange Chamber of Commerce. The Bengal Guards of Orange and the Red Hussars of Port Arthur, musical marching bands from the two high schools, marched towards the Cow Bayou Bridge from opposite directions and met in the center of the span for the ribbon cutting.

The Rainbow Bridge, which was originally the Port Arthur-Orange Bridge, was completed in 1938. The following year construction began on the ‘Cow Bayou Bridge’, a swing bridge with an electric motor. Both bridges where marvels of American technology in the years leading into World War II, as they are today. The swing bridge at Cow Bayou was the final link in “Hug-The-Coast Highway” between Corpus Christ and Orange, which was at the time, the new Texas-87.

The swing bridge over Cow Bayou brought about the consolidation of the Prairie View and Winfree school districts to become Bridge City I.S.D. The bridge was a routine part of life in early Bridge City. Near it, community, commerce and industry flourished to become the city of Bridge City in 1970, according to Record archives.

TxDOT re-striped the lanes on the roadway and made the Cow Bayou Overpass Bridge into four lanes of traffic for the more than 30,000 vehicles that are expected to travel through the area on a daily basis. Each lane will be 9 to 10 feet wide. Two lanes of traffic will travel south while the other two lanes will be northbound. No bicycle or pedestrian traffic will be allowed on the swing bridge or the Cow Bayou Overpass Bridge.

TxDOT officials suggest people take alternate routes into the area, such as, using FM 1442 to FM 408 or east Roundbunch to FM 1006 to continue to their destination. People should also consider the alternate routes if they think they may experience some problems crossing the Cow Bayou overpass bridge because of the narrow lanes of traffic.