By Jared Hunt
The Charleston Daily Mail
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A delay in the replacement of the Davis Creek Bridge on Oakhurst Drive in South Charleston has drawn the ire of local residents and businesses and caused delays for first responders in the area.
On Aug. 9, Ivydale-based Division of Highways contractor C.L. Belt began a $780,000 project to replace the old bridge spanning the creek.
Replacement efforts hit a snag when surprised crews uncovered a water line, according to highways spokesman Brent Walker.
“We discovered a water line that the water company wasn’t aware of and they had to come out there and move it,” Walker said.
He also said power company crews had to come in and remove additional lines from the area before work could resume.
As a result, the project was idled for nearly a month, causing residents to ask why work wasn’t taking place.
“It’s probably been a month since they tore it out and there hasn’t been a soul around,” said Ron Blizzard, owner of Blizzard’s Cycle and ATV, which sits along the road.
“They tore it out and just left.”
Blizzard, who has owned his shop for nearly 33 years, said he’s never seen anything affect his business as much as this.
“It’s just a stupid move because if they’re going to tear the bridge down and not be ready to put one back. . .it would be like someone coming to your house and tearing down your front porch and then turn around and leave and say, ‘I’ll see you in the spring.’ ”
Walker said crews returned to the site Tuesday to resume work on replacing the bridge but the month-long delay means they will not be able to meet the original December deadline for completion.
The project end date has been pushed back to May 31, 2011.
Walker said while the delay was only a month, construction crews now will work through the winter, which the Division of Highways expects will cause work delays.
Blizzard said his business, which already has seen an impact, could face increased difficulties during the extended period.
“It’s a noticeable difference, and we can’t stand a noticeable difference because our taxes and insurance goes on the same,” he said. “It’s really tough, with the economy as it is now, to make it as small businesses, and we really can’t handle the burden. It’s not good for anybody.”
During the replacement period, traffic has been detoured about one mile along Davis Creek Road and then along Kanawha County 1/5, a narrow one-and-a-half lane road.
While drivers can also get to the area by taking U.S. 119 to the Oakhurst/Terry Road intersection, Blizzard said most customers are used to taking the Davis Creek Road exit and coming to his store that way.
“I’ve had people tell me they’ve driven down here and seen the bridge out and just left and went somewhere else,” he said.
Beyond the business impact, the detour has been a challenge for first responders and already has resulted in some delays on emergency calls.
Davis Creek Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jeff Snodgrass said while there have not been excessive delays to this point, it takes longer to both get to the station and then to the scene of a call using the detours.
“It’s adding a few minutes to our response to the station, and then if we have a call where we have to go back through the detour again, it could conceivably add about five minutes.”
Snodgrass said 20 of his 28 firefighters have to go through the detour to get to the station.
“It’s been a pain for us, it really has.”
While he said the delay hasn’t resulted in a loss of life, the situation could be serious.
“Fire can grow excessively in five minutes, or with a person not breathing, keeping an ambulance or first responder from getting to them, five minutes is a long time.”
He said he talked with highways officials about the project before it began and asked them to keep him informed but that hasn’t happened.
“We asked them to be sure to notify us in advance of when the exact date was when they would close it, but they never did,” Snodgrass said. “Best we knew was when they put up the signs for the general public. That’s when we knew about it.”
Snodgrass said he has been in contact with other departments to ask for assistance with responding to calls that might be most affected by the detours.
“We have gone into agreement with city of South Charleston to where if we have a fire on the Charleston side of the bridge, they will respond to it because they can probably beat us there because of that bridge.”
Snodgrass said while the detour has been manageable so far, that could change if the winter is severe.
“There hasn’t been an excessive delay so far. Now, throw six inches of snow on that little one-lane road and try and pass vehicles - we could see some big problems there.”
Walker said the Division of Highways would work to maintain that area in case of inclement weather.
“We try to look at the areas at where there’s some inconvenience and make sure that we keep that at a minimum in the winter months. This would definitely be a targeted area for that.”
Walker admitted his agency could have done a better job of communicating with local residents about the project but emphasized the safety of travelers was the key issue.
“It was a bridge that needed replaced, and we know the inconvenience that those kinds of projects have on the communities they serve and businesses around there, but it’s a safety issue.”
While the initial project would have been an inconvenience, Blizzard said the delay until May presents an even greater challenge.
“That’s just unbearable,” he said.
“In West Virginia, we’re all struggling to keep going. Everything’s just getting harder and harder to do; everything just keeps adding to the bad side.”
Copyright 2010 Charleston Newspapers