Lone Oak Road bridge over Lake Ray Roberts may stay closed until May

The FM 3002 bridge over Lake Ray Roberts in southern Cooke County will probably stay closed until spring. Precinct 2 Commissioner Jason Snuggs told residents in a public Facebook post that the Texas Department of Transportation hopes to reopen it in March, but that drivers should expect May.

"Lone Oak Bridge update… It's not good folks…TxDot is hopeful for March, but with the winter weather we are slated to have and normal construction setbacks…PLAN FOR MAY. Don't kill the messenger," Snuggs wrote.

The post drew about 150 reactions, 73 comments and 67 shares.

What closed and why

FM 3002 is the state highway signed as Lone Oak Road. It runs about 8.5 miles east from Interstate 35 at Valley View, crosses two arms of Lake Ray Roberts and ends at FM 372. The whole route lies in Cooke County.

The closed span is the eastern of the two lake bridges. TxDOT underwater bridge inspectors found damage to one of its columns on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 30, and the agency closed the bridge that evening, KXII and KTEN reported.

The repair is not a replacement. TxDOT's headquarters in Austin authorized an emergency repair order, and the agency's Bridge Division is drawing the repair plans, the Gainesville Daily Register reported Nov. 3. TxDOT will award an emergency contract once those plans are done.

The detour

TxDOT's posted detour sends drivers around the lake:

• From the west side, take FM 922 east to Mountain Springs.
• Take FM 372 south.
• Follow FM 372 back to FM 3002 on the east side of the lake.

Texas State Parks also posted the closure on the reservation page for the Johnson Branch unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park on FM 3002. The page says "Lone Oak Rd Bridge is closed until further notice." It routes visitors from I-35 at Valley View east on FM 922 for 8 miles to Mountain Springs, then south about 4 miles on FM 372 and FM 3002 to the park gate.

How long it could take

TxDOT gave no reopening date when it closed the bridge. Engineers were unsure when it would reopen, the Register reported, and KTEN said TxDOT staff told the station the work could take months. Snuggs's post is the first timeline we found from anyone involved. He passed along TxDOT's March hope and set May as the safer bet, naming winter weather and ordinary construction delays as the reasons.

We could not confirm the cost of the repair, the contractor or a date for the emergency contract.

Not the first Lone Oak Road closure

The same highway lost a bridge in 2022. TxDOT closed the FM 3002 bridge over I-35 that May after it was damaged, and on July 15, 2022, the agency said that bridge would stay closed indefinitely until repairs were made. During that closure, TxDOT turned the southbound I-35 frontage road between Chisam Road in Denton County and FM 3002 into a two-way road so drivers could still get across.

That bridge carries Lone Oak Road over the interstate at the west end of the route, in Valley View. The bridge closed now crosses the lake.