WICHITA FALLS, TX The State Highway 79 Bridge at the Red River is a bridge carrying Texas State Highway 79 and Oklahoma State Highway 79 over the Red River at the Texas-Oklahoma state line. The camelback pony truss bridge is 2,255 feet long and has 21 truss spans. The Texas and Oklahoma highway departments built the bridge as a combined project in 1939. The bridge provided a direct route between Waurika, Oklahoma, and Byers and Wichita Falls in Texas. The bridge is now the only camelback pony truss bridge remaining on a Texas state highway and is the fourth-longest truss bridge in the Texas state highway system.

Drivers can expect a reduced speed limit with workers and equipment near the roadway for a bridge replacement project on SH-79 over the Red River between Jefferson County, Oklahoma, and Clay County, Texas.

The new bridge will be almost a half mile and while the bridge will be wider than the current one, it will stay two lanes with shoulders 

Later on in the project, the bridge will be narrowed to one lane with temporary traffic signals. Drivers should use caution and plan for additional travel time in this area. 

The nearly $11 million dollar contract was awarded in April to Frontier Bridge Inc. of Oklahoma. The project is equally funded by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Transportation. The project is expected to be complete, by fall 2018.