The railroad bridge below was originally the only bridge that connected Freeport to Velasco. It carried foot, car, and rail traffic. A span bridge was added in the early 1950's on Velasco Blvd. And, this bridge was reduced to rail and foot traffic. Yes, it carried rail until only a few years ago, Circa 2008. It was replaced by a used vertical lift rail bridge shipped from Houma, LA. This is the only rail route to Port Freeport, Later, about 1966, another span bridge was added on Pine Street, (now officially Industrial Blvd) to better serve the port.
The other swing bridge, for cars, was located near Brazosport High School. It had the distinction of being constructed over dry land in the mid 1920's before the Brazos River was diverted around Freeport. That brdge has been removed and replaced by a span bridge south of Freeport. Hwy 36 was rerouted behind Freeport in the early 1980's.
The swing bridge on the Old River at Freeport
I happened to see a story about this on 13 last night and couldn't believe it when the reporter said the bridge is still used. Hard to believe it still rotates much less would support a train and I thought all the tracks south of the river had been taken up. So I looked it up in The Facts.
The land bridge at the west end of Freeport was built before I was born but we still used this occasionally and it always scared me. It was narrow and cars and trains shared it and there always seemed to be a switch engine sitting at the north end of the bridge and I swear the engineers would always toot their horn when a car got on the bridge, even if they weren't going anywhere. I'm sure there were crossing arms to prevent cars from entering the bridge if there was a train but I wasn't old enough to understand that.
Historic Brazosport
in Historic Houston
Posted · Edited by Wharf_Rat
The railroad bridge below was originally the only bridge that connected Freeport to Velasco. It carried foot, car, and rail traffic. A span bridge was added in the early 1950's on Velasco Blvd. And, this bridge was reduced to rail and foot traffic. Yes, it carried rail until only a few years ago, Circa 2008. It was replaced by a used vertical lift rail bridge shipped from Houma, LA. This is the only rail route to Port Freeport, Later, about 1966, another span bridge was added on Pine Street, (now officially Industrial Blvd) to better serve the port.
The other swing bridge, for cars, was located near Brazosport High School. It had the distinction of being constructed over dry land in the mid 1920's before the Brazos River was diverted around Freeport. That brdge has been removed and replaced by a span bridge south of Freeport. Hwy 36 was rerouted behind Freeport in the early 1980's.