Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992 TAG: 9202040159
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEMBROKE LENGTH: Long
HISTORIC, OR JUST UNSAFE?
For 75 years the view of the New River from the top of Castle Rock has remained unchanged. That's how long the steel truss bridge in its foreground has been there.Looking back over your right shoulder, you can see the river flowing in from the east to form a huge loop before continuing out of sight to the west. The bridge spans the river midway through this loop, linking Castle Rock with the town of Pembroke.
During the warmer months this spot attracts sportsmen from throughout the state. The scenic curve in the river is a popular place for canoeing and fishing. Overnighters often set up camp in the little grassy field maintained by New River Canoe Livery in Pembroke.
But all that will change next year when work begins on a new bridge 50 feet upstream from the old one. And when that's done, the old bridge will come down.
A done deal?
Maybe not, if a computer programmer from Virginia Tech has his way.
Although the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Giles County Board of Supervisors want to replace the old bridge, Bill Richardson wants to save it. He's trying to get local historical and environmental groups to help.
But he's discovered that saving the old bridge will not be easy. Last year a state Transportation Department inspection revealed that the bridge's middle support had deteriorated below the water line.
Although a concrete collar was fitted around the weakened support, Transportation Department Resident Engineer Dan Brugh told the Board of Supervisors that repairing the old bridge would be too costly and that a new bridge would be needed by 1994.
If a new bridge were not built by then, he said, the old bridge would have its weight limit lowered - or it might even be condemned.
School bus driver Clate Dolinger is one of those who would like to see the old bridge replaced. After the bridge was damaged in an accident six years ago, he's had to stop to let the children walk across before he drove the empty bus across.
The damage has been repaired, he said, but the weight limit on the bridge has been lowered. Dolinger drives a smaller bus across the bridge these days.
"Now, the county only lets me drive a 52-passenger bus across, but I'm overloaded because I sometimes have to take 65 kids in the 52-seat bus," he said.
"I have one little boy who wants me to put the windows up when we cross the bridge because he thinks if we fall in we won't sink so fast with them closed."
School administrators are concerned, as well.
"Safety is our chief concern," Superintendent Robert McCracken says. His administrative assistant, Jim Wheeler, agrees. "We feel like it is a dangerous situation and we will be glad when the new bridge is built."
During public hearings on rural improvements, county residents who use the bridge told the supervisors they wanted the new bridge, too.
As the Jan. 1 deadline for approving a six-year road plan approached, the supervisors unanimously voted in favor of building a new $1.4 million bridge, and moved it to the top of the county's road-improvement priorities.
The supervisors said they believed this was necessary to ensure that the new bridge would be completed by the Transportation Department's 1994 deadline.
In January, however, Richardson addressed the board, which included two new members. He asked the supervisors to reconsider a new bridge and save the old one as a historic and scenic landmark.
In a letter a month earlier to the New River Valley Planning District Commission, Richardson said the bridge should be saved as a historic landmark.
He referred to the Transportation Department's own 1970 study, in conjunction with the Department of Historical Resources, of more than 500 steel truss bridges in the state at that time.
Of the 500 bridges surveyed, he said, the study selected 70 that were valuable for historic, scenic and cultural reasons. Of those, 21 were recommended to save at any cost. Richardson says the Pembroke bridge is one of these.
With this information, he says it seems reasonable to expect that the bridge should be included on the National Historic Register.
Richardson also points out that the bridge should be considered in light of the state's efforts to secure scenic river status for the New River, a designation it already has in both North Carolina and West Virginia.
Should that happen, he says, the location near Pembroke would be an ideal place to locate a visitor center because of the three attractions at the site: the river itself, Castle Rock and the bridge.
Richardson also says the Transportation Department initially considered five locations for a new bridge and rejected all but the one 50 feet upstream from the present bridge. This is not the best site, he suggests.
He would like to see the new bridge constructed at a site around the bend and downstream from the old bridge. At this location traffic over the river would link directly into U.S. 460 and no longer pass through a residential neighborhood.
Finally, Richardson says another reason for not building at the upstream location is that it would put the new bridge squarely on top of the land currently used by the New River Canoe Livery, a major attraction for Pembroke and the county for more than 10 years.
Livery owner and operator Dave Vincenzi agrees.
"Right now it's the only canoe livery within 50 miles in either direction. The new bridge they're proposing will eat me up and spit me out."
In mid-January both men attended a meeting of Citizens Organized for the Protection of the Environment in hopes of enlisting its assistance in saving both the old bridge and the riverside park used by Vincenzi's business. Although no formal decision came from the meeting, the group intends to continue to watch the situation.
Richardson also has contacted Ruth Blevins of the Giles County Historical Society who has said the disputed site is "one of the most historic spots in Giles County."
She is quick to point out that the site was the location of a small ferry operated by the Snidow family since before the Revolutionary War. It also is near the site of an Indian massacre that occurred in August 1774.
Blevins says that while she does not know how a new bridge would affect the area's historic status, she does consider the old bridge "unique."
According to Christine Decker, an environmental specialist with the Transportation Department, the issue has not been resolved. In a Jan. 17 letter to COPE she says the "possibility of rehabilitating the existing structure is being considered."
But, she adds, estimates show that it would be expensive. The department estimates the cost of repainting the bridge would be $500,000 and replacing worn-out truss members could cost as much as $2.5 million.
The department will schedule a public hearing to seek input from the public, she said.