The Cow Bayou Swing Bridge, completed in 1940, is one of only a few center-bearing swing highway bridges remaining in Texas. It was the last major component constructed along Texas Highway 87, the “Hug-The-Coast-Highway” running from Orange to Brownsville, and it created a vital connection between the regional economic centers of Orange and Port Arthur. Modeled after a swing bridge over the Sabine River in Deweyville, Newton County, completed in 1938, the structure is 806 feet long, carries two lanes of traffic, and uses a center plate that pivots on a center-bearing concrete pier mounted on timber piles. Its moving parts are powered by an electric motor, and the bridge can fully open and close in ten minutes to allow both road and water traffic to pass. After its completion, the Prairie View and Winfree school districts on opposite sides of Cow Bayou were consolidated, and the name Bridge City was suggested for the new district because of this bridge and the nearby Rainbow Bridge over the Neches River; the community later incorporated as Bridge City in 1970. In 1999, the Texas Department of Transportation considered replacing the bridge, but concerned citizens organized in 2007 to advocate retaining it, leading instead to adjustments and repairs that preserved it as a functioning part of an important transportation corridor.
