Oak Grove opens new bridge

Summary (Informational): Oak Grove opened the bridge over Roaring Creek after one year of reconstruction. Many people came to the opening ceremony.

Summary (Analytical): Residents of the Oak Grove community are shorting their trip into Midville with the help of a new bridge after it was destroyed a year ago.

The Oak Grove community in Midville had it's official opening ceremony of the 33-foot bridge over Roaring Creek Road at 11 a.m. Monday.

Seth Montana, mayor of Midville, along with U.S. Congressman Nancy Draughorn., and United States Senator Warren Johns, attended the ceremony.

“The bridge was not in great shape when it was destroyed” Roland Lively, of the County Department of Transportation, said. “We were just going to repair it.”

Nine miles plus was added travel time into Midville and called an “inconvenience.”

“Traveling all that way has made it very inconvenient for a lot of people. We’ve had to use a lot of time and gasoline just to make what otherwise would be very short trips” said Oak Grove resident and attorney Josh Spiva.

A flood destroyed the bridge last year and the county had been working ever since to have it reconstructed.

The state, county and U.S. Department of Transportation all contributed to the rebuilding of the bridge.

Total cost of the bridge = $700,000
· U.S. Department of Transportation paid $400,000
· State paid $200,000
· County paid $100,000