Ceremony Held to Open Vital Oak Grove Bridge

Summary 1: U.S. Rep Draughorn, Sen. Jones, and Mayor Montana all attend the ceremony to officially open the reconstructed Roaring Creek Bridge after being in service for 2 weeks. The residents report being happy to no longer be driving the 9-mile alternate route to work thanks to the bridge.

Summary 2: Oak Ridge celebrates official bridge reopening this morning at a ceremony with attendance of U.S. Rep. Nancy Draughorn, Sen. Warren Jones, and Mayor Seth Montana. The has been reopened sooner than expected after unexpected funding from the state and Department of Transportation.

Oak Grove residents attended the ceremony to officially reopen the Roaring Creek bridge this morning after it had been rebuilt sooner than expected.

U.S. Rep.Nancy Draughorn, Sen. Warren Johns and Midville Mayor Seth Montana all attended the ceremony at 11 a.m.

Residents of Oak Grove have been raising money to repair the 75 year old bridge over Roaring Creek, which was washed out by a flood last year. “The bridge was not in great shape when it was destroyed.” said Roland Lively, department head of the County Department of Transportation.

With the help of the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as the state, Oak Ridge was able to raise the $700,000 needed to replace the 33-foot bridge.

· $100,000 from the County
· $200,000 from the State
· $400,000 from the Department of Transportation

With the Roaring Creek Bridge being destroyed residents just north of it were forced to make a 9 mile detour to get to work each day. “Traveling all that way has made it very inconvenient for a lot of people” said Spiva. This alternative route caused a strain on resident’s time and money with the high prices of gasoline.

Now that the bridge has been open for a couple of weeks, residents are happy to be back to their normal routines. Spiva said he believes this is a blessing for all residents.