Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993                   TAG: 9305220029
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEVE KARK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OLD GRAY BRIDGE AIN'T WHAT SHE USED TO BE

But first, I feel obliged to add my 2 cents' worth:

If you haven't been following the story, it more or less concerns two points of view. On the one side, there are those who believe the 75-year-old steel bridge should be preserved as a historic relic; on the other are those who believe it has served its function and should be demolished.

As sometimes happens, even in places as agreeable as this largely rural county, things have gotten a lot more complicated than they really need to be.

As relative newcomer to the area, I've used the bridge myself off and on for the last nine years. There's no question that the old bridge has a certain amount of charm.

It's a narrow bridge, so anything larger than a compact car has to cross one at a time. This often creates situations that require the kind of courtesy we've come to expect in a rural community like ours and seems so rare when we travel.

As you approach the bridge from the north end, the accepted procedure has determined that before you cross you look to see if anyone is crossing from the other side. If so, you politely wait until the other is across, generally receiving a nod of appreciation for your efforts.

Driving across from the south end, however, is another matter. Because the road approaches at a blind angle from behind trees, you can't see what's on the bridge until you've started across. What this means is that sometimes you get out onto the bridge only to discover someone coming from the other direction.

More often than not, the one who has traveled farther across is granted the right of way. The loser backs up and waits, with the appropriate nods given all around.

Only once did I meet a driver coming from the other side who, apparently, either was ignorant of bridge protocol or thought himself above it.

With stubborn persistence, neither of us backed down. We played our little game of bridge chicken until we squeaked past the other with only a fraction of an inch, glaring with righteous indignation as we passed.

Although there were no nods exchanged on that occasion, for me the bridge has come to represent a way of life notable for the polite cordiality between strangers.

Moreover, if you take the time to really look at the bridge, you might appreciate how one could see it as a feat of engineering and technology. Its steel spans rise above the river with a certain geometric grace that one might admire, especially when you consider that it has served the community well for more than 75 years.

But nothing lasts forever. Indeed, that's precisely the point here. You see, the old gray bridge just ain't what she used to be.

Its beams are rusting through, and the supports holding the bridge above the river have been worn away by the force of the unforgiving current below.

Where in the past the bridge held firm against the relentless flow of time, it now rattles and trembles with every vehicle that makes its way across her.

In the end, what it really boils down to is that it would cost a lot more to save the old bridge than it would to tear it down and build another - or, I suspect, to take it apart and move it in pieces to another location, as has been recently proposed.

In either case, the cost is not a minor factor in these days of crumbling infrastructure and diminishing budgets. Simply put, we don't have the money to save it. Besides, the people over there deserve the new bridge.

Those who live above the river's south bank need to know that if their homes catch fire they won't have to wait 50 minutes while the town's firetrucks circle around to cross at the safer bridge near Eggleston.

Those minutes could mean the difference between a small fire and losing a home.

Of all the people I've talked to about this bridge in the two years I've covered the story, the overwhelming majority want the new bridge. And they don't really care what happens to the old one, just so they don't have to pay to maintain it.

They are frustrated by anything that slows the progress of the new bridge. So, when the highway department holds a public hearing in Pembroke on June 9, I suggest that those who still think the bridge is worth saving bring their tools with them to the meeting.

The folks in Pembroke would be only too happy to let them take it with them.

Steve Kark is an instructor at Virginia Tech and a correspondent for the Roanoke Times & World-News. He writes from his home in scenic Rye Hollow, in a remote part of Giles County south of Pearisburg.