State Highway 11

With all the media attention going on about Highway 11 being closed for 60 days, I thought it was a good time to throw in my nickels worth of nonsense. I would have put in only 2 cents worth, but with todays prices and inflation, I thought I would add a few more Lincolns to the pot. You have to give the 1920's engineers that designed the concrete box bridge over Red Eagle Branch Creek a pat on the back for a good job done. Or at least that's the way I see it. Designed and built in 1925, the bridge has stood the test of mother nature over the years until it could not hold its own anymore. Before 1925, the Red Eagle Branch had two crossings in the area. One was stone and timber bridge, close to  where the 1925 bridge would be built and the other was only a crossing located about 4 tenths of a mile due west of the Red Eagle home site. In 1923 it was the crossing that had the most traffic due to the fact that it was on the main road to Nelagoney. This earth grade road didn't take the course that we now know as Highway 11. It meandered north out of Barnsdall making its way along the foot of the hills running north until it came to the Red Eagle home site and then turned west crossing the Red Eagle Branch Creek and climbing the hill in a northwest direction passing to the south of Tallant. The road then proceeded to wind its way along the hilltops going northwest till it crossed Cochahee Creek about two miles southest of Nelagoney where it made a turn to the north and proceeded into Nelagoney. From this point into Pawhuska the road took about the same route as the present county road does now, and entered Pawhuska over the stone arch  bridge which was built in 1912 that crossed Bird Creek for Lynn Avenue. 

Lynn Avenue bridge over Bird Creek, Pawhuska, Oklahoma

By 1925, the use of autos was becoming more apparent with more purchases being made. Though there were only 374 miles of paved and concrete highway in Oklahoma at the time and train travel was still one of the best ways to get from one place to another, the state began to improve the road system to accommodate the flux of autos. Originally known as Route 11, it began at the state line west of Siloam Springs Arkansas and crossed Oklahoma in a northwest direction until it reached Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle. It was the single longest highway designated in the 1925 highway plan. In 1925 the new Route 11 was planned to pass through Avant, Wolco, Barnsdall, Tallant and Pershing before entering Pawhuska. During the years of 1925 and 1927, bridges were built in this section of the route and new road bases were being carved out of the Osage hills to prepare for a new overlay of concrete. The original Bird Breek bridge into Barnsdall was finished in 1927, just in time for the paving crews to connect to it. 

1927 truss bridge over Bird Creek was replaced in 2001

By the end of 1927 the section between Skiatook and Pawhuska was finished. It consisted of 35 miles of concrete, poured in 50 feet sections and 18 feet wide. Anyone traveling the old Highway 11 should remember the sound of the tires as they passed over the concrete section dividers. It gave the sound of a horse galloping on hard dirt. Today there is little left of the original concrete Route 11 from 1925-27. Most of it was covered by asphalt in 1972 when Highway 11 was made wider. There is one section of the concrete highway left near Avant, hidden beyond view of the present Highway 11. It's located east of the James Bigheart Memorial bridge on Candy Creek. The Route 11 concrete highway has stood the test of time and weather just like the bridge over Red Eagle Branch Creek has for decades, it's just not ready to say goodbye yet.

Concrete section of Route 11 on the bank of Candy Creek

Route 11 roadway on south side of Candy Creek looking north

Route 11  roadway looking south.
Highway 11 can be seen in the upper right hand side of the photo