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James C. Nance Memorial Bridge

Oklahoma, US

James C. Nance Memorial Bridge

The US 77 James C. Nance Memorial Bridge connecting Purcell and Lexington was originally built as a circa 1938 deck truss two-lane bridge and in 2019 rebuilt as a concrete pier four-lane bridge crossing the Canadian River and the BNSF Railway between Purcell and Lexington, Oklahoma. The bridge desig

nated on the list of state highways in Oklahoma carries U.S. Route 77 (US-77) and Oklahoma State Highway 39 (SH-39) from McClain County to Cleveland County. The bridge is named for James C. Nance, longtime community newspaper chain publisher and Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate and member of U.S Uniform Law Commission. The Nance bridge allows travel time from Purcell (west side of the Canadian River) to Lexington (east side of the river) to be only 3 minutes by car, according to google maps. When the bridge was closed (Emergency Closure, below), the same trip was 43 minutes when re-routed North to the nearest bridge, or 1 hour and 4 minutes when re-routed Southeast to the nearest bridge. The Nance bridge features a scenic pedestrian walkway with sweeping views of the South Canadian River valley. The 1938 construction of this...

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