As decision on Yadkin River Bridge looms, status of Wil-Cox Bridge uncertain

Piggybacking on my earlier post on the Yadkin River Bridge, there is also information about the oldest standing of the Yadkin River Crossings.

The future ownership of the Wil-Cox Bridge, built in 1922, will be determined by the pending decision on TIGER Grant funds to replace the newer I-85 Yadkin River Bridge.

NCDOT has offered to sell the bridge to Davidson County for a sum of $2.5 million. Davidson County would then convert the historic concrete arch bridge for use by pedestrians only. After the bridge is converted for pedestrian use - any of the 2.5 million not spent will be returned to Davidson County for maintenance on the bridge.

However, there are concerns on how much the conversion will cost and how much Davidson County would annual spend on maintenance. NCDOT has given a deadline of March 1st on their offer. That was contingent on NCDOT being awarded the TIGER funds. Funds that may not be awarded until February 17th. Of course, if NCDOT doesn't receive any grant money, it is unclear when any construction of a new I-85 bridge would take place.

Story Link:
Commissioners mull Wil-Cox bridge decision ---The Dispatch

Commentary:

Personally, I would love to see this bridge kept standing, and preserved for pedestrian use. The bridge is one of only a few open-spandrel concrete arch bridges standing in North Carolina. In addition, why not make it part of the nearby North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer. There are a lot of possibilities that could take place.

Fortunately, the new I-85 bridges would be built further downstream from the Wil-Cox bridge and that may help in building a linear park highlighting the crossing's history as part of a Native American trading path.

The issue is obviously whether or not NCDOT receives any grant money from the Feds. If the state doesn't receive the maximum amount of $300 million that can be awarded, it will be interesting to see how the state finds the additional money for the I-85 Yadkin River Bridge replacement project. Once that is decided, hopefully the State and Davidson County can come to an agreement to preserve this historic bridge.

Comments

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park. As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park. Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870. The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona. In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers. The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines. The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917. Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog