Antique Bridge Still Carries Traffic by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

Antique bridge still carries traffic

by Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram

April 25, 2011

SAN GABRIEL — Milam County’s labyrinth of rural trails once boasted a dozen

opportunities to ramble across creeks and rivers atop antique bridges with decking that

popped, creaked and groaned as modern transportation technology merged with 19th

century bridge architecture.

Today, there is but one of these curiously structured iron truss bridges in Milam

County still open to vehicular traffic, said Bob Colwell, Texas Department of

Transportation public information officer for the Bryan District.

The Pratt-through-truss structure over the San Gabriel River on County Road 428 in the

San Gabriel community, known to area residents as the Worley Bridge, gives today’s

motorists a sampling of bridge travel before the days of concrete and steel.

And what a ride it gives.

Built a century ago, the Worley Bridge boasts seven, span-steel stringer approaches

measuring 272 feet long, plus 138 feet of main span and metal decking, all of which

provides a rather sinister symphony of noises.

At 12 feet wide, the bridge can narrowly accommodate one vehicle at a time, and only

those weighing less than 5,000 pounds.

In spite of its noisy driving experience, the bridge is sound and solid and carries

traffic across San Gabriel River chasm near Apache Pass resort off FM 908, and the

famed El Camino Real de los Tejas, or King’s Highway network of ancient trails that

cuts across Milam County near the San Gabriel River.

The bridge has served the public well during 100 years of existence.

Because of the bridge’s advanced age, TxDOT wants the motoring public to abide by the

posted load limit. Additionally, the old bridge is routinely inspected every year, and

after every heavy rain, Colwell said. The bridge was a stalwart survivor of the

devastating flood of 1921.

TxDOT had planned to replace the bridge last year but “there is not an agreement in

place” with the county to replace the structure, Colwell said

Although the Worley Bridge boasts the single opportunity to drive across an antique

iron bridge, Milam County is home to three pedestrian-only bridges, including the

historically restored Sugar Loaf Bridge near Gause.

Additionally, Bryant Station Bridge near Buckholts is open to pedestrian traffic at its

original site over the Little River, while the Brushy Creek Bridge was relocated to

Cameron’s Wilson-Ledbetter Park and is open to pedestrian traffic.

A truss bridge on the Little River near the Marlow community is closed to all traffic,

according to TXDOT.

All the old bridges are tourist-worthy exhibits of bridge architecture, Milam County

Historical Commission officials have said.

The Worley Bridge was constructed during a county building boom of the early 1900s that

saw the Brushy Creek, Bryant Station Bridge, Hog Creek Bridge and Donahoe Creek Bridge

spring up across streams in farming areas.

A second round of bridge construction occurred in 1940 when county residents saw new

bridges over rural crossings of the Brazos River, Brushy Creek, Donahoe Creek and Elm

Creek.

Early 20th century bridges were county government’s response to the anticipated

automobile invasion of Texas, when some 30,000 vehicles were anticipated to be on the

road around 1911, according to historical accounts. In Milam County, the iron bridges

replaced either wooden structures or nothing, and at first accommodated more horse-

drawn conveyances than horseless carriages.

The San Gabriel River was the focal point of three Roman Catholic missions established

in the area in the mid-1700s.

As a community, San Gabriel first was settled during 1840 by Peter and Jesse Mercer,

who built log cabins. A Rockdale history reported that Mercer was killed by Indians on

a bluff now known as Mercer’s Bluff and his body fell into the San Gabriel River.

San Gabriel boasted a post office in 1944, but mail was delivered by horse and buggy.

Throughout the years a good school, post office, two blacksmith shops, several garages

and stores flourished.

Today, the Worley Bridge carries 160 vehicles a day across the San Gabriel River, TxDOT

reported from its traffic counts. The bridge is a much visited and photographed icon of

the past to visitors at Apache Pass, a resort at a low-water river crossing.

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram

Photo by Shirley Williams - Telegram

.

Antique Worley Bridge is the only structure of its kind still on the job in Milam County.