John Watson: Suspension bridge named for Regency

Perhaps you have never heard of the Regency suspension bridge, but you have probably seen it several times.

The Regency bridge appears on the opening to Texas Country Reporter every week. Perhaps you have wondered where this bridge is located.

The bridge is northwest of the town of San Saba and spans the Colorado River between San Saba and Mills Counties.

It’s named for the abandoned farming community of Regency on the Mills County side of the river.

When my younger son was living in San Saba, he took me to see the bridge.

The bridge is really something to see from a distance. It spans 340 feet from tower to tower.

The towers rise about 30 feet above the bridge floor.

Both cables are pulled tight for another 134 feet behind each tower and anchored in the ground.

The bridge is arched in the center and stands 25 feet above the recorded high water level of the Colorado River.

The flooring is constructed of 4 inch by 12 inch timbers.

The Regency bridge is also a “swinging” bridge, but not all suspension bridges are swinging bridges.

The Waco suspension bridge is not a swinging bridge because it has steel girders underneath to keep it rigid.

The Regency only has a steel cable underneath supporting the bridge timbers and is higher in the middle than on the ends.

As you drive across you can feel the timbers giving beneath the weight of your vehicle.

This is an undulating motion similar to riding the waves in a boat.

The bridge is only wide enough for one vehicle.

The road approaching the bridge from each side comes in at an angle, so you can see the full length of the bridge before you get to it.

You need to check at this point to see if anyone is approaching from the other end, and if so, wait until they cross.

On the final approach to the bridge you cannot see the other side for the arch. If you meet someone in the middle, one of you will have to back off.

This first bridge over the Colorado River in this area was built in 1903 between Mills and San Saba counties to serve area ranchers and farmers.

This bridge was the main link between San Saba and Brownwood.

Cotton and other agricultural products were shipped to market along this route.

The original bridge fell into the river on May 9, 1924, killing Raymond Burns Jernigan, his horse and several cattle.

The replacement bridge was destroyed in a flood in 1938.

Mills and San Saba counties combined their efforts to build a new bridge across the deep ravines of the Colorado River after the flood of 1938.

The bridge was to be built at Regency.

Bids for construction were advertised by both counties, with the Austin Bridge Company of Dallas receiving the contract.

Both counties agreed to supply lumber for use in building the flooring.

Construction on the bridge began in February 1939 with excavation of the banks of the river.

Six to eight feet of earth were removed so footings for the towers could be poured.

After the concrete and steel towers were built, a false work was constructed across the Colorado River to support the beams and trusses while cable was strung above them.

The support cables consisted of 475 strands of No. 9 galvanized wire, and each cable is passed over towers at each end of the bridge.

Both cables were anchored at each end by pouring concrete into excavated holes and placing the ends of the cables into it.

Beams and trusses were connected to the cables by vertical one-inch turnbuckles.

Eventually the cables and abutments held all the weight of the bridge plus vehicular traffic passing over it.

Work on the Regency suspension bridge was done with hand labor and lightweight equipment. Local residents were used for common labor and worked 60 hours a week.

The bridge was completed in October 1939. The bridge has maintained its structural integrity since that time with a minimum amount of maintenance.

The Regency is one of the last remaining suspension bridges in use in Texas.

The bridge spans more than just the Colorado River north of San Saba.

The 70-year-old suspension bridge is one of the last reminders of a time when public-works projects were often as beautiful as they were functional.

The bridge was closed to traffic for the better part of 2004 for repairs. On the morning of Dec. 29, 2003, the sheriff’s department received a call at about 2 a.m. that children were shooting fireworks off the bridge.

When deputies arrived, no one was there.

They were called back four hours later along with the local fire department to put out a fire at the bridge. A large hole had burned through the wooden deck. At first arson was suspected.

A couple of days later, two youths showed up at the Mills County sheriff’s office to confess to the crime. They admitted to shooting the fireworks that cold morning and said they had placed a burning log on a rock on the bridge to keep warm.

Before they left they had kicked the log into the river and doused the rock with water.

Maybe the little New Year’s party wasn’t the brightest idea, but the two local sheriff’s departments decided that stupidity wasn’t a crime in either county and declared the fire an accident.

County commissioners weren’t quite as forgiving and said the boys might get slapped with a bill for the repairs.

To get to the Regency bridge, take Texas 16 north from San Saba.

About two miles north of town you will see Farm-to-Market Road 500. Turn west here and go about 19 miles, at which point you will see a sign directing you to turn north onto a dirt road to Regency. One mile down that road you will see the bridge.

John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.