Pedestrian Bridge

AYDEN — Grifton’s Creekside Committee came one step closer to obtaining a pedestrian bridge at Overlook Park in a meeting held on Tuesday, July 6.

Cynthia Rice, of Landscaping Architecture and Planning in Raleigh, presented a feasibility study to the board, complete with three options for the bridge’s possible location.

“We wanted it to make sense physically,” Rice said.

Rice said the goals of the potential bridge location were to provide good connections to activities, to determine the best location across Contentnea Creek and to build in a reasonable time frame. Rice also went over three possible locations, recommending one site to the board.

The recommended site was the last site Rice showed the board and attending guests. Site C would connect the new park to the East end of the RV Park. Rice said this option would be the easiest as well as financially the best choice. This bridge would have a shorter span than the other two proposals and a boardwalk would not be required.  This option would also be more elevated above the water level.

Another option presented was to reuse the existing bridge abutments to build a bridge that would connect the RV Park and Boat Ramp Area directly. In this option, the existing bridge abutments would have to be carefully evaluated. This bridge has the longest span of the three, which could play into the cost. According to Rice, the cost of just the bridge alone is estimated at $2,000 per foot, and with this option the bridge would have to span at least 180 feet, but could span as much as 272 feet.

The third option presented connects the RV Park and the West side of the Boar Ramp and would be the shortest crossing, at 140 feet. However, a long boardwalk would be needed through the marsh area. This option, according to Rice, would be more difficult to get permits for.

Rice finished the presentation by recommending Site C as the location site and showed the design of the bridge she recommended as well. Rice said Site C was the cheapest option. The selected bridge design is a prefab modular bridge and has a wood deck. The bridge is made by Steadfast Bridges of Georgia and has a link x-brace Truss. The other bridge design shown was a laminated wood bridge, which Rice said was eliminated because it wouldn’t span the length needed.

Rice said the bridge design elements she looked for was a clear span, handicap accessible, a good clearance over the water, at least 10 feet wide and durable, low maintenance. The bridge would also be able to support small, golf cart type vehicles, which Rice said would be used for maintenance and emergency personnel only.

Funding for the project would take the longest, as funding will come from the state. According to Town Administrator Michael Peoples, the town is looking at possible funding from the Department of Transportation.

“You would be able to implement it in a reasonable amount of time,” Rice said.

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