Funding for much-needed Tech Drive bridge replacement secured
Leader photo by
Caleb Daniel Funding for the replacement of the Tech Drive bridge over I-20 in Ruston has been secured. The bridge is 63 years old.
Replacement of the much-complained-about, 63-year-old Highway 544 bridge at Tech Drive is a little closer to happening.
After a decade of lobbying and waiting, funding for the project is finally secure. But that doesn’t mean construction is around the corner.
“The plans are not 100% finished,” Mayor Ronny Walker said Monday. “From what I’ve been told, it’s only about 75%.”
The final $18 million needed for the $45 million project is included in this year’s state budget, Walker said.
“The date right now to let bids is 2026, but there’s a big, big push to move that to 2025,” he said.
The new bridge will be built 150 feet west of the existing bridge. The structure will have two roundabouts on the north side and one roundabout on the south side.
The Highway 544 bridge, also known locally as the Cooktown Road overpass, was closed for several days in mid-April of 2016 after a chunk of concrete fell out of the bridge deck onto the interstate below.
The hole grew large enough to see vehicles passing beneath the exposed rebar.
The bridge is one of the three oldest in the I-20 system from Ft. Worth to the east coast. The other two: Ruston’s Trenton and Vienna street overpasses.
