Oak Grove residents know what a difference 33 feet can make. Monday's official re-opening of the Roaring Creek Bridge ended a year of inconvenience for the community after the well-traveled bridge was destroyed. They celebrated at the re-opening ceremony held Monday morning.
Monday's official re-opening of Roaring Creek Bridge came as blessing in diguise to Oak Grove residents. When a flood destroyed the bridge last year, federal and state funding helped to replace the aging bridge which was previously in need of repair.
Oak Grove residents rejoiced as the Roaring Creek Bridge officially re-opened Monday following a ceremony held that morning.
The neighborhood, joined by special guests Midville Mayor Seth Montana, U.S. Congressman Nancy Draughhorn, and U.S. Senator Warren Johns, celebrated the re-opening of the historic bridge that was destroyed last year during a flood.
The bridge is part of the main route into Midville that many Oak Grove residents use to commute to work. During the past year, however, they have been forced to take a longer, alternate route.
Josh Spiva, an Oak Grove resident, said traveling to Midville, where he works as an attorney, was "very inconvinient."
“We’ve had to use a lot of time and gasoline just to make what otherwise would be very short trips,” Spiva said.
Ronald Lively, head of the Department of Transportation, said the county had already planned to repair the 75-year-old bridge before the damage occurred, but had not yet raised enough funds to complete the project.
Spiva said the flood was a blessing in disguse that made it possible to rebuild the bridge so quickly.
State and federal funding that resulted from the distaster helped to cover the replacement costs.
The costs were broken down as follows:
- County costs $100,000
- State costs $200,000
- U.S. Department of Transportation costs $400, 000
= Total costs $700,000
For Oak Grove residents, however, the rebuilt bridge is priceless.
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