By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report
And with a boom, not a whimper it ended -- 66 years of service to the community helping ferry gasoline-fueled vehicular traffic in and out of Front Royal. I guess 66 years is a good functioning lifespan -- at least when it came down, it came down intentionally, unlike some old or ill-designed bridges we have read about in other sections of the country.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 3, most of the remaining superstructure of Warren County's North Fork Bridge came tumbling down after being detonated by contractor Demtech Inc., of Dubois, Wyoming, working under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Transportation. There was a slight delay in the planned 8 a.m. detonation to move some spectators who had gathered on nearby railroad tracks further away from the "event horizon."
When the smoke cleared one section remained standing between the bridge abutments -- but that was intentional one nearby bridge worker explained to this inquiring journalist.
"That section is over the water. It has to come down piece by piece," he explained.
So, the sections brought down were all over the floodplain land most of both bridges traverse.
Asked if there was much lead paint abatement prior to Sunday's razing of the bulk of the remaining superstructure, the worker unenthusiastically replied in the affirmative -- "For awhile it seemed like all I did was chip pieces of paint by hand," he said.
Media from far and near gathered in the gray, early-morning winter chill along with a few hearty spectators, Warren County Fire and Rescue units -- on hand just in case -- VDOT and other construction officials near the bottom of Guard Hill Road for the historic demolition. Several groups of birds, including a V-shaped squadron of geese did fly-bys reconnaissance of the area before and after the explosion.
As cameras clicked and whirred, the event appeared to go off without a hitch and traffic was again running over the adjacent new three-lane bridge by 8:30 a.m. The demolition of the final sections of the old bridge marks an important turning point in the North Fork Bridge project scheduled for completion in September 2009.
The North Fork Bridge opened to traffic in 1941, perhaps not coincidentally at about the same time nearby synthetic fiber manufacturing plant American Viscose, designed to support much of the Allied war effort in World War II, came on line. Now, like the Dodo bird and WWII itself, both the plant and the old bridge are history.
In September 2005 the Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded the $19.2 million North Fork Bridge project to Flippo Construction Co. Inc. of Forrestville, Md. The project includes replacing the existing three-lane bridge on Route 340/522 (Winchester Road) over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River with a new five-lane structure that includes sidewalks and bicycle lanes. Bridge approaches were rebuilt as part of this project. Traffic began using the initially constructed three-lane structure erected next to the old bridge in late summer 2007. Upon completion of the remaining demolition of the old bridge, the final two-lane structure will be constructed in the shadow of the old bridge's footprint.
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I see That Roger decided to listen to what I was telling him about "getting with the times" involving news coverage. ie...
people not buying papers anymore...
now you need to get off your butts and add content, gain subscribers etc...
If you folks ever get a budget together let me know, I'll spiff up your videos and produce tons of them for you.
bugsycline 2 years ago
I lived in Front Royal for many years. My parents still do. I am happy to see that we will now have a modern bridge to bring traffic into our little town. May the new one survive for 60-some years...
rootbeer4969 4 years ago