Funding has been secured to replace Lynchburg’s oldest concrete bridge, and the process of choosing a designer is well under way.
Next up is a community meeting organized to answer one of the neighborhood’s biggest questions: Just when is this project going to get started, anyway?
“What we’re hearing is people want information on what’s happening, what our schedule is,” said Charles Grant, the city’s construction manager. “We want to make sure anyone who has an interest in (the project) can come, get the information they need and get their questions answered.”
Built in 1909, the D Street Bridge has been closed for more than three months after an inspection found it to be in serious disrepair.
Chunks of concrete have fallen off the two-lane structure, and some girders are cracked. An outside inspection firm brought in by concerned city officials deemed it the worst overpass the group has ever worked on.
The bridge in question extends along D Street between Rivermont Avenue and Hancock Street at the edge of the Daniel’s Hill Historic District. Its closing blocks one of only two entryways to the Daniel’s Hill neighborhood.
Early estimates suggest it will take two years and at least $2.5 million to replace the bridge, the course of action recommended by the latest inspection report.
City Council has since socked away $3 million for the project. The bulk of that comes from unused reserves established early on in the budget process to offset diminished state funding and a local deficit that never materialized.
Money was also provided in the regular, post-third-quarter financial adjustments made to the government budget this year.
The city has also taken in bids for the design contract that will be issued as part of the project. Grant said around three proposals were received during the submission period in May, and are now being reviewed by staff.
No firm has been selected yet.
A public meeting has been set for Thursday to provide the community an update and allow questions to be asked. A general notice of the meeting was issued by the Department of Communications & Marketing. Direct announcements were also sent to more than 400 surrounding homeowners through the mail, city officials said.
Staffers plan to outline their schedule for completing the replacement, and address related issues such as a revised emergency evacuation plan for the neighborhood and changes to the area’s bus route, which previously made use of the D Street Bridge.
D Street, about four blocks long, was used by approximately 1,500 vehicles a day before the bridge closed, according to a city traffic count.
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