ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Nearly two years have passed since Memorial Bridge, which links Pulaski County and Radford, was closed abruptly because of structural deterioration. Now plans announced Friday for long-term and short-term repairs to the bridge are bringing back bad memories.
Just ask Michelle Brauns, who commutes from Blacksburg to her job as Radford Community Hospital's development coordinator.
She said the bridge's closure in April 1994 forced her to build an extra hour into her schedule each day for travel.
``It was interesting, I think we suffered with it for about six weeks,'' she said.
Ambulances heading to the hospital would rush to one end and the crew would jump out with the patient on a gurney and run the patient across to a waiting ambulance on the other side, she said.
Now a study the Virginia Department of Transportation requested on the bridge has been completed and the verdict is that money needs to be spent to either repair or replace the bridge. The question is how much.
While that's being decided, the bridge has more immediate needs. It's center supports - called stringers - have deteriorated the most, according to VDOT. The agency has contracted to have concrete barriers built down the center of the Virginia 11 bridge.
The construction will move the nearly 18,000 vehicles that use the bridge each day to the outer edges of the lanes - which were reinforced last year - and reduce each lane's width from 14 feet to 12. The speed limit will not be reduced except during construction.
``I want to emphasize that the bridge is safe for traffic," said Dan Brugh, VDOT resident engineer for the Christiansburg office. "But to protect it from further weakening, we've got to change the traffic pattern slightly.''
That change will mean about 30 working days of construction, which is set to begin sometime next month. The cost will be about $85,000.
But that's only the beginning.
``We're buying some time with this solution,'' Brugh said. ``What we really need to do now is decide what the permanent solution will be.''
According to the study by Hayes Seay Mattern & Mattern Inc., the estimated cost to replace the bridge is $11.6 million. A new bridge would last about 75 years.
To replace the superstructure only (not including the piers reaching down to the New River) would cost about $10.3 million and lengthen the bridge's life about 50 years.
Rehabilitation would cost $7.5 million and add 25 years to the bridge's life.
``But of course, we're talking about a lot of money, and we'd be very interested in what the public and users of the bridge have to say about that,'' he said.
A public hearing on the allotment of road and bridge construction money for the Salem Transportation District, which includes Montgomery and Pulaski counties, is set for April 2 at the Salem Civic Center. For those unable to attend, written comments can be sent to Fred Altizer, Salem District Administrator, Virginia Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 3071, Salem, Va., 24153, for up to 10 days after the April 2 hearing.
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