{"nrhp_refnum":"06000925","name":"Route 66 Bridge over the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"I-40 south frontage road over the former CRI&G RR ROW","address_restricted":false,"city":"Shamrock","county":"Wheeler County","state":"TX","lat":35.22846733100005,"lon":-100.10626385899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-04-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-span steel and concrete road bridge built in 1932 on the Interstate 40 south frontage road, about eight miles east of Shamrock, Wheeler County, Texas. It carried Route 66 over the former Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad right-of-way.","why_significant":"The bridge reflects the development and history of Route 66 as the main corridor from the Midwest to the West. Its concrete-encased steel I-beam main span is one of only a few of its type in Texas, and it is described as the last vehicular bridge in Texas directly associated with Route 66. It retains its original design, form and materials.","narrative":"Built between October 1931 and July 1932, this 125-foot bridge carried two-lane Route 66 traffic over the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad tracks east of Shamrock in the Texas Panhandle. Engineer M.L. Grady of the Texas State Highway Department's Bridge Division designed it, and contractor E.T. Prater built it for $28,568.74. Its center span uses steel I-beams encased in concrete, a design that lowered height, weight and cost by about $5,000 and shielded the steel from weather and locomotive blast. The other spans are reinforced concrete girders on concrete pile bents. The bridge served Route 66 until Interstate 40 opened to the north in 1960, and it now serves as a frontage road. It was listed for its link to Route 66 and for an uncommon engineering design, and it remains largely unaltered from its original construction.","period_of_significance":"1932-1957","architect_builder":"Parker, E.T (builder); Grady, M.L. (engineer)","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Reported to be in good condition and still in use as part of the I-40 frontage road system; the railroad below is abandoned and its rails removed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.039674-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/9707/40970769/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/06000925.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000925/de08a2f5a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000925/de08a2f5a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Route_66_Bridge_over_Railroad,_Wheeler_County,_TX,_US_(07).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bubba73</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Route_66_Bridge_over_Railroad,_Wheeler_County,_TX,_US_(07).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970769","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_66_Bridge_over_the_Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Gulf_Railroad","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60750838"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/wheeler-county/route-66-bridge-over-the-chicago-rock-island-and-gulf-railroad-06000925/"}