VDOT unveils plans, again, for Advance Mills Bridge

State transportation officials say they’re on the path to building a permanent bridge over the North Fork Rivanna River in northern Albemarle County — and this time they say they’ll stick to it.

The Virginia Department of Transpor-tation held a public hearing Tuesday to present its proposal: a $3 million steel truss bridge that will hold full-load, two-way traffic to replace the closed Advance Mills Bridge. The new bridge is scheduled to be completed by late 2009 or early 2010.

Plans to replace the bridge, which has been closed since April 2007, have been delayed several times. Alternate routes have caused many headaches for residents.

Board of Supervisors member Ann H. Mallek on Tuesday said: “We will be watching carefully to make sure they stay on the timeline they’ve established for themselves.”

Members of the Advance Mills Village Homeowners Association, along with other residents at the public hearing, said they were pleased with the new bridge proposal. They hope it’s built as promised.

“I don’t care what bridge they put up. … We just want a bridge,” said homeowners association member Jean Newland. “We’ve been waiting since 1969.”

Supervisor Sally H. Thomas said she’s “completely confident” the board will approve the bridge proposal and she believes that VDOT will complete the project as outlined.

One Advance Mills resident said that, because of the unusable bridge, it took emergency vehicles 50 minutes to respond to her brother-in-law after he hurt himself in a fall. Another resident said that Mount Zion Baptist Church, near the bridge, has had fewer church events because of the longer trip and elderly churchgoers finding the alternative routes too dangerous.

Initially, VDOT planned to have a temporary bridge up by April 2008 and a permanent bridge by 2011. Then the Federal Highway Admini-stration and VDOT flip-flopped several times about whether to stick with the original plan or to build just a permanent bridge. They finally settled on building a permanent replacement.

Building one bridge instead of two will save $2 million, according to VDOT Commis-sioner David S. Ekern.

Thomas and Mallek have been vocal about the inconvenience and safety problems that Advance Mills residents have faced because of the lack of a fully functioning bridge between Earlysville and Advance Mills.

“There were people who couldn’t get an emergency vehicle out to them when they had a heart attack,” Thomas said.

The existing truss bridge was closed following a safety inspection that revealed a high level of deterioration and deficiencies.

The existing bridge is too far gone to be repaired, according to VDOT. If it were repaired, the old bridge would not be able to support heavy trucks, including emergency vehicles.

“The bridge has had a weight restriction on it since at least the early 1970s that has precluded its use by fire trucks and some rescue vehicles, as well as large school buses,” Ekern wrote in a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Kenneth C. Boyd.

The new bridge will be built to carry all legal-load vehicles, including school buses, commercial trucks and emergency vehicles. The former bridge only permitted one-way traffic and had weight restrictions. That bridge will be completely removed, VDOT spokesman Allan Sumpter said.

As outlined in the proposal, immediate improvements will be made to detour routes that locals will use while they wait for the new bridge to be built.