Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge

Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge. . The original 11th Street Bridge was constructed in 1916 as a Highway 64 crossing of the Arkansas River and as a way to connect downtown Tulsa with the rich oil fields west of the river. Unlike most bridges of the day, the beautiful art deco structure was not made with steel and wood, but was constructed with steel reinforced concrete. At that time, it was the only concrete bridge west of the Mississippi River., The 1916 bridge carried one lane of automobile traffic on each side of a railroad track located in the middle of the structure. In 1934, a second structure was constructed on the downstream side of the original arch bridge. The two structures were connected through a common deck that widened the bridge to accommodate four lanes of vehicular traffic., In 1926, the 11th Street Bridge proved to be instrumental in Cyrus Avery's successful attempt to align a highway from Chicago to Los Angeles through Oklahoma and his beloved city of Tulsa. That highway would later be designated as Route 66. For more than half a century the arch bridge served as an integral part of the historic highway before the construction of Interstate 44 diverted most travel., By the late 1970s, the bridge was in such disrepair that it became unsafe for vehicular traffic. The City of Tulsa subsequently constructed a new bridge downstream of the 1934 structure and in 1980 closed the old bridge to traffic. In 1996, the 11th Street Bridge, comprised of both the 1916 and 1934 structures, was listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Register of Historic Places., In 2004, the 11th Street Bridge was officially renamed the "Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge" by the Tulsa City Council. Visitors today can still enjoy the beauty of the art deco arches and railings constructed so many years ago by standing at the northwest corner of the bridge and looking west across the Arkansas River.