This arresting view from the Malden boat ramp in Bowie County shows the new State Highway 8 bridge over the Sulphur River. That’s Texarkana resident John Tye unloading his boat. The view is looking west from the ramp’s edge.
u This photo shows the new and taller State Highway 8 bridge at the right while the old bridge and highway on which the car is traveling is at the center.The striking feature is that the old bridge and road will be completely gone when work is completed i
R. H. Hubbard Bridge work continues
Work is continuing on the seven-year, $37.7 million project to replace bridges over the Sulphur River along State Highway 8 between Douglassville and Maud.
Being replaced with one long bridge are the two bridges crossing Lake Wright Patman between Bowie and Cass Counties. The current structures are 26 feet wide and the new one is 44 feet wide with two 12-foot traffic lanes and 10-foot shoulders on each side, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Longview Bridge and Road of Longview received the contract for the project with a bid of $37.7 million. Work began in July of 2019 and is expected to take about seven years, making the completion year 2026.
The bridge over the Sulphur River is named the R. M. Hubbard Bridge in honor of the late Robert Moss Hubbard (1876-1934) of New Boston who represented District 3 in the Texas Legislature on two occasions 19291933.
Hubbard was named to the Texas Highway Commission in 1918 by Governor W. P. Hobby, served as chairman until 1925 and is credited for raising highway department standards. The Hubbard home built in 1904 in New Boston is a recorded Texas Historical Landmark with its Victorian styling, eight irregular-sized gables and leaded glass in bay windows.
The current Hubbard bridge was built in 1955. Average Daily traffic across the bridge in 2013 was 2,470 vehicles. Highway 8 begins in Linden at its intersection with State Highway 155, travels north across the lake, briefly turns west with U. S. Route 67 at Maud, then heads north through New Boston and on to reach the Red River and the Texas and Arkansas State line.
The new Hubbard bridge project will add to the already pleasant and scenic drive that is State Highway 8 as it curves over the river. Driving over the bridge affords an artist’s look at the river and lake with its varying spacious scenes of lake water, changing land masses, boats, wildlife and wide skies.