{"nrhp_refnum":"96001126","name":"US 281 Bridge at the Brazos River","other_names":["Pp0250-02-018"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"US 281, 2.2 mi. N of I-20","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santo","county":"Palo Pinto County","state":"TX","lat":32.64160907000007,"lon":-98.10027739599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-10-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A steel continuous Warren through truss highway bridge carrying US 281 over the Brazos River near Santo in southeastern Palo Pinto County, Texas. It was built in 1938-1939 by Brown & Root, Inc. to a Texas Highway Department design.","why_significant":"The bridge embodies the defining characteristics of a Texas Highway Department truss bridge, meeting Criterion C in Engineering at the state level. Its custom continuous truss has a curved top chord resembling suspension bridge cables. It is one of only seven continuous through truss bridges surviving in Texas and one of five built before World War II.","narrative":"Carrying US 281 across the Brazos River in southeastern Palo Pinto County, this steel bridge was built between December 1938 and September 1939. It has a three-span continuous Warren through truss 656 feet long, flanked by twelve 40-foot I-beam approach spans, for an overall length of about 1,138 feet. Texas Highway Department engineers designed it specially rather than using a standard plan. The top chord curves between two high points over the piers, echoing the cables of a suspension bridge. Bethlehem Steel fabricated the steel, and Brown & Root of Austin built it for nearly $171,000, with federal funds covering half the cost. Firm blue shale at the site suited a continuous design, which proved cheaper than simple spans. The bridge replaced a county-built crossing on the older route of State Highway 66. It is one of only seven surviving continuous through truss bridges in Texas, and it has seen no major alterations since construction.","period_of_significance":"1938-1939","architect_builder":"Bridge Designer: Texas Highway Department; Truss Fabricator: Bethlehem Steel Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Bridge Builder: Brown & Root, Inc., of Austin, Texas","architectural_style":"Other: continuous through truss bridge","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used for vehicular transportation; no major repairs or alterations, and the bridge retains substantial integrity. No projects are currently planned, though its June 1995 sufficiency rating of 32.0 makes it eligible for replacement funding.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.496286-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/9699/40969917/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/96001126.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001126/ffb31eb158-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001126/ffb31eb158-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brazosriverbridge3.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</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:Brazosriverbridge3.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969917","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_281_Bridge_at_the_Brazos_River","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7875823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/palo-pinto-county/us-281-bridge-at-the-brazos-river-96001126/"}