About this property
The Beaver Bridge in Beaver, Arkansas, is a historic one-lane suspension bridge carrying Arkansas Highway 187 over the White River at Table Rock Lake. Built in 1949 by the Pioneer Construction Company, the structure is the only suspension bridge open to traffic in Arkansas. The Beaver Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The bridge was bid on December 19, 1947, to Pioneer Construction Company of Malvern, Arkansas. The construction foreman who led the project was M. R. Blair (1914-2014), who later served as lead foreman on numerous bridge and highway projects across Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, and who led the construction of numerous dams, highways and bridges throughout the southwestern United States, including the 1964 Big I interchange of Interstates 25 and 40 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Remarkably, Blair and his team completed the project without the benefit of an industrial crane, using only a pickup-mounted, knuckle-boom type crane. Since the construction was coincident with the building of Table Rock Dam, completion was delayed until 1949 as the United States Army Corps of Engineers required the bridge to be raised 40 feet (12 m). Upon completion, the bridge remained a vital link for the citizens of Beaver until its closure for major deck rehabilitation in 1981. Further rehabilitation occurred in 2003. At that time, the bridge had a 10-ton weight limit. The bridge was temporarily closed for inspection in October 2018 after two overweight buses crossed it. It was closed again on August 6, 2025, for emergency repairs after a structural issue was found during a routine inspection. The bridge opened on August 14, with weekly repairs scheduled. To help preserve the bridge, the weight limit was lowered from 10 tons to 5 tons. List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Arkansas List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas National Register of Historic Places listings in Carroll County, Arkansas Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AR-53, "Beaver Bridge, Spanning White River at State Highway No. 187, Beaver, Carroll County, AR", 7 photos, 7 data pages, 1 photo caption page
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Beaver Bridge listed on the National Register?
Beaver Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 8, 1990.
What type of historic resource is Beaver Bridge?
Beaver Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Beaver Bridge?
The period of significance for Beaver Bridge is recorded as the modern era, specifically around 1949.
Can I research the history near Beaver Bridge?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Beaver Bridge will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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