(Informational: The re-opening ceremony of a 75-year-old bridge took place today. Citizens traveling past the bridge say they are happy now that the problem has been fixed. The bridge was replaced using money from the state, U.S. Department of Transportation and the county.)
The re-opening ceremony of a fallen bridge over Roaring Creek Road took place this morning at 11 in Oak Grove County.
Midville Mayor Seth Montana, U.S. Congressman Nancy Draughorn and U.S. Senator Warren Johns were all in attendance to witness the event.
The 75-year-old bridge collapsed last year after a flood flowed through the area.
Because of the fallen bridge, Oak Grove citizens have had to travel nine miles out of the way to get to work.
Oak Grove resident and Midville attorney Josh Spiva is one of the many who are relieved to finally enjoy a straight-lined drive to and from work.
“Traveling all that way has made it very inconvenient for a lot of people,” Spiva said. “We’ve had to use a lot of time and gasoline just to make otherwise would be very short trips. Having this bridge erected so quickly is a blessing.”
Oak Grove County had planned on repairing the old bridge instead of replacing it. The county did not have enough money to handle the price of replacing the bridge.
Roland Lively, head of the County Department of Transportation, got a little help from the state and federal funds to replace the bridge. Lively said he was thankful for the support.
“The bridge was not in great shape when it was destroyed,” Lively said. “We already had some money in the county budget for repairs. Problem was, we didn’t have enough to replace the bridge. We were just going to repair it. "
Replacing the bridge totaled to $700,000. The payment was split three ways:
- $200,000 coming from the state
- $400,000 coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation
- $100,000 coming from the county
No comments:
Post a Comment