Timber Creek Bridge - Route 66 - Elk City, Oklahoma, USA.
N 35° 20.679 W 099° 34.807
14S E 447285 N 3911418
A through Truss Bridge over Timber Creek built to carry the Mother Road in 1926 & still currently in use. One of the few places you can drive on the original Historic Route 66 roadbed. Located on I-40 Frontage Road, Elk City, to Sayre, Oklahoma.
Waymark Code: WMR7ND
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/23/2016
Views: 7
Its hard to believe but there was much more traffic over this bridge in the heyday of Historic Route 66, than there is today, currently the bridge averages about 4 cars per hour. In one of the photos you can see the interstate in the background, (I-40) that was the demise of Route 66, the businesses, & towns alongside the Mother Road.
"Route 66 was aligned through the Elk City in 1926 along the former Oklahoma State Highway No.3, this increased local business as motels, diners and service stations sprung up to cater to the travellers.
The economy originally focused on farming now has a strong backing from the oil and natural gas (first found in 1947), and led to its self-proclamation as "Natural Gas Capital of the World". Text Source adapted from: (
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"Route 66: an American cultural icon. Since 1926, Route 66 has been captivating the minds of traveling, adventurous, and sometimes desperate Americans who some imagined better life 'out west'. For some, the road was a way to get from here to there, for others, an ideal: the embodiment of a dream.
At first a trickle, then eventually a flood, 66 has seen literally millions of Americans on the move. In the early years, drivers were on their own. They needed to carry their own food, bedroll and tools. Inevitably, whole industries sprang up to service these hungry, tired travelers and their vehicles. In their efforts to bring in the tourist/traveler dollar, motels, gas stations and cafes tried all sorts of tricks to get people to notice and frequent their establishment . Gimmicks such as traveling restroom inspectors, huge, gaudy neon, and buildings shaped like sombreros were once the norm. But as time and the interstates progressed, far too many of these establishments found themselves in the backwaters of the U.S. highway system. Travelers and businesses dwindled. Paint peeled, broken neon flickered, then went out forever. A long twilight seemed destined to bring nightfall to the once proud, lively road." Text source: (
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Technical data from the Ugly Bridge Website: (
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"Length of Span:
Length of largest span: 96.1 ft.
Total length: 99.1 ft.
Deck width: 18.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.3 ft."