Collapsed 1975 and Extant 1919 Bridges over Canadian River at Calvin, OK

1919: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1975+1978: (Satellite) 1978 is my guess as to when the replacement bridge was finished.

I thought this was an bogus AI photo until I read the comments.

The collapse happened on May 21, 1976. [greenspun]

Note that the 1975 bridge stood for just a year or so before it fell down!

I thought this photo was bogus because there is no pier between the middle two collapsed spans. I guess the bridge collapsed because the pier disappeared. But how does a pier disappear?

Lunna Lucky posted
Bridge collapse Calvin OK

There were two fatalities.

newspapers, paycount of 5

I can't find any information about the cause of the collapse. 

"On May 28, 1976, the Commission authorized the Highway Department to contract with consulting firm Modjeski and Masters to perform an independent and unbiased investigation into the cause of the US-75 bridge collapse north of Calvin." [odot]

Has ODOT scrubbed all copies of that report off the internet?

1913 Bridge

I'll bet the locals were really glad that they didn't quickly tear down the old bridge after the new one was built. They at least had this old bridge to use while the new one was repaced.

Street View, May 2022

This view shows that the river was rather high in the above view. It also shows that the bridge has four spans.

Street View, Jan 2026

When I zoomed in to confirm that the bridge is pin connected, I noticed the bridge in the background. It is an abandoned railroad bridge.

Street View, Jan 2026

And the river is even lower in this photo.

OKbridges, this webpage has more photos
"This bridge was one of the earliest state-standardized designs built in Oklahoma, and other bridges exist similar in design. The state-standardized designs represented a trend towards heavier bridges than the ones commonly built from the catalogs of bridge companies."

Street View, Jun 2013