Preserving the travel history of Texas.
Beyond the Sabine · Louisiana
Follow the old road from the Sabine River through East Orange to Toomey. Seven collections explore lost bridges, abandoned pavement and surviving connections, with photographs and personal accounts from the original visits.
This section of TexasFreeway.com is dedicated to the memory of my friend Al Shipes.
Old pavement runs through the trees toward East Orange.
Follow the old highway
Standing on the west side of the river we can see were the bridge crossed. The bridge actually landed on the west side just to my right, but a docked ship prevented me from getting a direct shot. Just to the left of the steel shaft is the east landing.
A look to the northeast at the bridge over Webb Gully. This is same wood plank construction style as the "Burned Out Bridge."
Looking northeast along LA3112. There is a small crossover just west of the transition from two lanes to divided four lanes. This photo was taken in the crossover.
From the original archive
The original historical text follows. Its dates and descriptions reflect the source as written.
US90 represents one of the earliest routes between Texas and Louisiana. Until the 1920's, you had to cross the Sabine river on a ferry north of here.
The original Sabine Memorial Bridge was dedicated on June 27, 1927. It was the primary method of crossing the river until the IH10 bridge was opened in the 1950's; it was dismantled several years later. For several years the IH10 river bridge and its approaches on each side of the bridge represented the only section of IH10 in the area. After the completion of the IH10 bridge east bound US90 traffic in Orange was diverted north on Simmons Drive to the the new section of IH10. Traffic would travel for several several miles before crossing the river. After the river, traffic would travel for about 4 more miles where it would be diverted back to US90. This temporary section would later be renamed to Louisiana State Highway 3112.
When entering Louisiana from Texas a traveler would first be welcomed to East Orange. See the East Orange page for more information about this night club town. East Orange existed on the western end of the roadway. This section was approximately 1 1/2 miles long. At the end of this virtual island travelers would find themselves on a wood decked bridge for another mile. Once off the bridge travelers would essentially be on dry land on the rest of their journey. The wood decked bridge burned in the 1973, more about that on the Burned Out Bridge page.
The visual record of the area has been divided into several sections to make it easier to organize.
Here is an map showing an overview of the area in study. It clearly shows how US90 approached Texas in its southern route. It also show LA3112 and gives you a feel of its use as a temporary connector.
(image reproduced from MapPoint® )
The original visits
I made two trips to this area. This first was on June 28, 2003. I went with my friend and former coworker Al Shipes. A few weeks after this trip. Al was diagnosed with inoperable brain tumors.
Al lost his battle with brain cancer on Wednesday, August 24th, 2005.
This section of TexasFreeway.com is dedicated to Al.
The second trip to the area was on April 23, 2005. The expedition included (from left to right to bottom) Erik Slotboom, Todd Schuh, Ron Jackson, Kevin Jackson and Austin Jackson.