Isaac Hughes of Zion Hill makes a point to consulting engineer Phil Logsdon and others at Thursday's meeting. |
By Sarah Ladd
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
A consulting board’s meeting Thursday offered no solutions
for a quick reopening of the Weisenberger Mill Bridge, but a small glimmer of
hope that it could be rebuilt next year, not in 2020.
The meeting at Northside Elementary School was for people
who had signed up to be consulting parties on the project, required under
federal environmental and historic-preservation laws. It was also open to
observers, most of whom were more concerned about the need to reopen the
bridge, which has been closed since July 1, 2016, isolating the Zion Hill community.
Casey Smith, project manager for the state Transportation
Cabinet, opened the meeting by addressing concerns the community
expressed in a meeting at the bridge Tuesday, including the feeling that its voices are not being heard. “It hurts to hear that,” he said.
“Despite all the emotion and frustration, I find this process is actually
working.”
Craig Potts, the state historic-preservation officer, said
the process has already resulted in giving residents of the area the
alternative they wanted – a one-lane bridge like the old one, for fear that a
two-lane span would encourage more speeding and heavy truck traffic.
Federal Highway Administration environmental specialist Eric Rothermel listened at the meeting. (Photo by Sarah Ladd) |
Potts said, “We really benefited. . . . Otherwise we probably
would have a two-lane alternative underway right now.” That was the plan when
the bridge was closed for safety reasons.
Phil Logsdon, senior project manager at H.W. Lochner, the
Lexington engineering firm advising the state, said part of the meeting’s
purpose was to eliminate the two-lane alternative. He said it can’t be
officially eliminated until a decision is made, but the community has made it
clear that it wants the single-lane alternative.
The conversation turned to a debate over whether a
single-lane bridge could be 14 feet wide, as opposed to the current 12-foot
plan, to accommodate more farm machinery. Engineers at the meeting said both
options should have the same weight limit of 40 tons.
Magistrate Chad Wallace of Scott County’s Third District
asked if making it two feet wider would delay the process. “The general feel is
to get something open as soon as possible,” he said.
Logsdon was unsure, but several members of the state's project team – 18 were in attendance – said consideration of the 14-foot
alternative was unlikely to delay the process.
Wallace asked the question likely on the minds of most: “How
soon do we get a bridge?”
Mapquest map, adapted, shows how the bridge closure has isolated Zion Hill. |
Later, Isaac Hughes of Zion Hill asked who heads the
cabinet, and was told that is Secretary Greg Thomas. Hughes said the process he
saw at the meeting won’t get a bridge built soon. At Tuesday’s meeting, he
voiced concern that the process is focused more on the design of the bridge
than its speedy reopening.
After the meeting, Hughes said his concerns have not been
resolved. “We’re still looking at the process,” he said. “It’s about the
process, not the people.”
Hughes said other communities nearby have repaired bridges
in a speedy manner. “Those communities had horse industry money,” he said, and
Zion Hill doesn’t produce much revenue, so there is little incentive to repair
the bridge.
“It’s about land value, not life value,” he said, echoing
his concerns from Tuesday, and said he feels the community means nothing to
those working on the bridge repairs.
Soon after the meeting started, the cabinet’s environmental-analysis
director, Danny Peake, told the crowd that the process “probably seems
cumbersome, slow and painful,” but has seen “a large government agency” change
its plans in response to public concern.
About halfway through the meeting, Ed Courtney, part of
whose property would be used for a construction easement, said, “They built
that bridge probably in less time than you all been talking about it.”
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