86-year-old bridge comes down

DECATUR — For one old bridge near Decatur, the end of its service life came at the hands of a powerful jackhammer and one worker at the controls.

The old Wolf Creek bridge on Arkansas 59 outside Decatur took about 10 days to dismantle, making way for a new and wider span.

One question city and state officials were asking was finally answered April 8.

As workers began removing the bridge decking and safety railing, the crew discovered a 12-by-8-inch data plate attached to the bridge decking. The plate read: “Wolf Creek- Consolidated Construction Co. Contractor — 1936 Bridge No. [the number was missing].”

Construction began on Arkansas 59, which runs from the Missouri border to Arkansas 22 in Barling — a distance of 93 miles — in 1935, a year before the Wolf Creek Bridge was constructed.

Originally, the Wolf Creek Bridge was designed for car traffic. However, with the growing poultry industry in Decatur, Gravette, Gentry and Siloam Springs, truck traffic grew along this section over the last 30 years.

On April 15, the deck that spanned Wolf Creek was gone, leaving only the two piers on either end and the roadbed leading to the deck.

Over the next few weeks, the piers and roadbed will be torn out and construction of the new bridge structure will begin.

The old Wolf Creek Bridge served the motoring public for 86 years.

The bridge will fade away into the history books. The bridge data plate, however, will be given to the Decatur Historical Commission for display in the depot museum.

The bridge data plate will be given to the Decatur Historical Commission for display in the depot museum.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Mike Eckels) A large excavator equipped with a hydraulic jackhammer strips away part of the old decking of the Wolf Creek bridge April 12 on Arkansas 59 near Decatur.