Old McKinney Road Bridge - Ray Roberts Lake State Park (Greenbelt Unit) - Aubrey, TX
N 33° 19.973 W 097° 01.820
14S E 683318 N 3689924
The Old McKinney Road Bridge can be found by hikers who are traveling the Greenbelt Trail between East Elm Park and the FM 428 access point in Ray Roberts Lake State Park, Aubrey, TX.
Waymark Code: WM159MG
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/15/2021
Views: 0
Our map here on the Waymarking site is hopefully inadequate: McKinney Bridge Rd no longer runs through here, and while one can reach it from Pilot Point, it
dead ends near a residence, and there are barriers and prominent signs warning against trespassing. Besides, the road looks impassable anyways. You're hiking well over a mile to get here, and even then, there are no signs to be found pointing you to the bridge. There's a weathered kiosk with some information about the local flora and fauna, but the well-weathered path next to it is the hint you should take. The "Stay Off Bridge" sign is about all you can see from the main trail.
There are some fine views of the bridge from the west side of the river, with a little bit of obstruction from brush that will go away during the cooler months. If you'd like to see the bridge from the east, you'll have to get wet and cross the river, or wait until we have a drought again. Watch out for mud, and be on the lookout for copperheads hiding in the leaves or water moccasins by the water.
Unfortunately, there's not much to be found beyond Bridgehunter's referring to this one as an "Abandoned Pratt Through Truss bridge," suggesting 1911 as the year of construction by an unknown builder. There is an interesting photo there from 1972, showing the bridge with a few pieces of its deck intact, and apparently, it had been abandoned sometime during the 1960s. How "McKinney" figures into the equation seems to be a big question, as McKinney is 35 miles southeast of here. The bridge connected Green Valley and Belew, taking traffic across the Elm Fork of the Trinity River: Green Valley is still with us, although most of its farm land is now under Lake Ray Roberts, while the old Belew settlement is part of Aubrey to the east. The Belew name can still be found at the cemetery and on local roads, but it otherwise belongs to the ages.