Man falls off top of Rainbow Bridge near Baxter, sustains injuries

Rainbow Bridge, located on what is now a county road near Baxter Springs (but what once was Rt. 66), is definitely something to see.

On Friday afternoon, around 12:21 p.m., it became the scene of an accident when a 24-year-old man walking on the top of it fell off.

“He actually fell from the top of the bridge to the roadway, not all the way into the creek or the area below the bridge,” Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves told NewsTalk KZRG.

“He did sustain some injuries and was flown to a Joplin hospital by a medical helicopter,” Groves added.

The sheriff says the man was said to be in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital but his condition is reported to have improved.

Rainbrow Bridge, a single-span, Marsh Arch bridge – the last of its type on old Rt. 66) – was built in 1923.