Attention Abilene District DoT: ... your bridge is crumbling.
This pair of images was taken just north of Aspermont in Stonewall County and shows a bridge in serious need of repair work. About a half mile after turning east onto North 2nd Street in Aspermont, the road turns left (north) becoming county road 1263. It then runs straight north for about 6 miles... crosses Stinking Creek, and in another 1.5 miles reaches the Salt Fork Brazos River. This is one of my favorite areas to hike and walk along the river when it's low, hunting for sun bleached animal skulls, shooting photos along the way. We were here in late June and stopped to look around, the extreme heat (108 degrees at the time), ruling out hiking anywhere, but I did grab a few photos from this highway bridge. Walking back to the truck I noticed a half dozen areas where the concrete of the bridge deck had crumbled and fallen away revealing rusted rebar. I took a few phone pix, the one on the left with a bit of asphalt patch faces northwest, the other (right), faces southeast. CR1263 parallels state highway 83, about two miles to its east, and joins SH 83 about 1.5 miles above the point where it crosses the same river. Because this major highway carries most traffic and 1263 handles only local stuff, the bridge might not be high on the state's "infrastructure" upgrading list. Maybe maintenance of 1263 and its Salt Fork Brazos River Bridge is a county responsibility. If the bridge was demolished, there would still be CR 1263 access to all back land adjacent to it, because of the junction with SH 83 at either end. I've seen large trucks cross this crumbling bridge and can't help wondering if someday it might drop into the river, just like the derelict steel truss bridge 100 yards upstream from this one. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but if I'm on the bridge and I hear a large truck coming, I walk off the closest end... always with my camera ready.
IMG-2431H
iPhone SE-2
Attention Abilene District DoT: ... your bridge is crumbling.
This pair of images was taken just north of Aspermont in Stonewall County and shows a bridge in serious need of repair work. About a half mile after turning east onto North 2nd Street in Aspermont, the road turns left (north) becoming county road 1263. It then runs straight north for about 6 miles... crosses Stinking Creek, and in another 1.5 miles reaches the Salt Fork Brazos River. This is one of my favorite areas to hike and walk along the river when it's low, hunting for sun bleached animal skulls, shooting photos along the way. We were here in late June and stopped to look around, the extreme heat (108 degrees at the time), ruling out hiking anywhere, but I did grab a few photos from this highway bridge. Walking back to the truck I noticed a half dozen areas where the concrete of the bridge deck had crumbled and fallen away revealing rusted rebar. I took a few phone pix, the one on the left with a bit of asphalt patch faces northwest, the other (right), faces southeast. CR1263 parallels state highway 83, about two miles to its east, and joins SH 83 about 1.5 miles above the point where it crosses the same river. Because this major highway carries most traffic and 1263 handles only local stuff, the bridge might not be high on the state's "infrastructure" upgrading list. Maybe maintenance of 1263 and its Salt Fork Brazos River Bridge is a county responsibility. If the bridge was demolished, there would still be CR 1263 access to all back land adjacent to it, because of the junction with SH 83 at either end. I've seen large trucks cross this crumbling bridge and can't help wondering if someday it might drop into the river, just like the derelict steel truss bridge 100 yards upstream from this one. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but if I'm on the bridge and I hear a large truck coming, I walk off the closest end... always with my camera ready.
IMG-2431H
iPhone SE-2