Kerr: The stimulus comes to Stafford

When we hear important officials talk about infrastructure, what we usually think of are highways, subway systems, trains and airplanes. But infrastructure, the core of what allows us to move ourselves and our goods from place to place, is made up of many small pieces. It’s more than large-scale projects. One example that shows how local this issue can be is the one-lane bridge on Courthouse Road (Route 630) that crosses the CSX Railroad tracks.

The bridge was built in 1917. For years it served well, but by the mid-1980s it started to have problems. Old age, the natural elements and the vibration of the trains below had taken their toll. The structure was beginning to fail. The bridge’s railings are severely rusted and in some places have broken away. VDOT engineers, after a bridge inspection, labeled the span as “structurally deficient.” While that doesn’t mean the bridge is necessarily going to fall down the next day, it does signal that there is a severe problem. What’s more, the state, wary of just how much of a load it could bear, put a weight limit on the bridge, restricting access to vehicles of less than 15 tons.

The bridge is the only road link to a community of several hundred residents. They can still use the road, but just how much longer it will be before the bridge is declared too dangerous to cross is anybody’s guess. Thus, school buses, which weigh in between 11 and 14 tons, can still use the bridge. However, while fire and rescue personnel still use the road when there is an emergency, some of their vehicles are heavier than 15 tons.

The estimated cost of rebuilding the bridge is $5.4 million. As road projects go, that’s not an unreasonable price tag. Nonetheless, in spite of the bridge’s advanced state of decay, it never was ranked high enough on the state’s priority list to warrant funding. The county did succeed in getting approval to fund a portion of the bridge construction through the state’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program. The rest was included in the 2008 Transportation Bond. But just when this funding stream would come together was anybody’s guess.

In the meantime, the bridge continued to decay. That is, until President Obama’s Federal Stimulus Bill came along. The state transportation department, working with the Commonwealth Transportation Board, was asked to put together a list of projects for immediate funding. The bridge made the cut, and word has it that a request for proposal, the first stage of the bidding process, should be out shortly. And not too long after that, this dangerous bit of deteriorating infrastructure will finally be replaced.

There is lesson here: While growth-related projects, such as widening roads, installing left-hand turn lanes and building new roads are always attractive, we can’t ignore our aging infrastructure — no matter how unglamorous or remote the project.

David Kerr is a former member of the Stafford County School Board. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.