Roaring Creek Bridge Ceremony

Official opening ceremony for the newly rebuilt Roaring Creek Bridge took place this morning at 11:00 a.m.

The bridge, more than 75 years old, was washed out by a flood last year. The county had been working on getting it fixed ever since.

Ron Lively, department head of the County Department of Transportation, said, “The bridge was not in great shape when it was destroyed. 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. Fortunately, some state and federal money was available, and we were able to do it a lot quicker than we had expected.”

The cost to replace the 33 foot bridge was $700,000. The county paid $100,000; state paid $200,000; U.S. Department of Transportation funds were $400,000.

The absence of the bridge was a hardship for the Oak Grove neighborhood because the residents had to travel much further to get to the main highway.

Oak Grove resident, Josh Spiva, said, “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. Having this bridge erected so quickly is a blessing.”