Dillsboro Bridge
The Business 23 bridge that spans Scotts Creek between Sylva and Dillsboro is slated for replacement in 2018. Dillsboro officials, concerned about a potentially negative economic impact, are hearing from N.C. Department of Transportation officials and consultants as they seek to minimize disruption to the town’s tourist-driven businesses. The almost 75-year-old bridge was termed “structurally deficient” during its most recent inspection.
Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 2:00 pm
The Sylva Herald
There’s another challenge ahead for Dillsboro — the bridge on U.S. 23 Business over Scotts Creek will be replaced three years from now, potentially stopping or delaying traffic into the tourism-dependent town.
Town officials are hyper-aware of the economic dangers, and are already talking with N.C. Department of Transportation officials about how to best limit dollar damages to merchants. They met March 9 with a DOT official during a board meeting for a general briefing. Next week town leaders talk with a representative from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., an engineering firm based in Boston with offices in Raleigh. DOT hired the group to oversee work on the bridge.
“Typically a bridge replacement doesn’t garner much attention and can be handled internally with DOT, without public input,” Lauren Triebert, a transportation engineer with the consulting group, wrote in an email. “But we aim to be sensitive to potential effects (human and environmental).”
Triebert said she plans to discuss cost estimates with town officials and present a timeline.
The almost 75-year-old bridge was ruled structurally deficient during its most recent inspection, meaning it’s safe for motorists but was built using old design standards and is in relatively poor condition or lacks sufficient load-carrying capacity.
Dillsboro’s bridge rates in the bottom 25 percent of 13,500 state-maintained bridges in structural sufficiency, Triebert said, making it a candidate for replacement in 2018. Inspections take place every two years and are shaped on federal standards.
The sufficiency rating is calculated based on a Federal Highway Administration formula that places 55-percent value on the structural condition of the bridge, 30 percent on serviceability and 15 percent on how essential the bridge is to the public, according to DOT’s website.
Dillsboro’s bridge lies between Sylva and Dillsboro at the turnoff of Old Home Town Place, above the Monteith Farmstead and Park. U.S. 23 Business is a major thoroughfare into both towns, but Sylva has several points of access while Dillsboro has but two.
Many business owners in Dillsboro have struggled to stay afloat since 2008, when Great Smoky Mountains Railroad moved its headquarters to Bryson City. Just last month, Mayor Mike Fitzgerald called the town board into session to discuss his idea of attracting new businesses by offering cash incentives. Board members agreed to set aside $25,000.
Last week, town leaders discussed with DOT Division Construction Engineer Brian Burch the need for traffic to flow through at least one lane during the project.
The project is still in the planning and design stages, a phase including “the determination of the appropriate replacement method, whether that be on existing location or a slightly shifted, new location,” Triebert said.
Posted in
Top stories
on
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 2:00 pm.
Leave a Reply