Weeks in, Crooked Bridge Still Out

County To Consider Helping Opening Route to Private Road

By Meghan Louttit (Contact)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Three weeks have passed since heavy flooding took Crooked Bridge out of commission. And not much has changed for the 51 residents of Crooked Bridge Lane, a street now cut off from the rest of Loudoun County.

Residents still keep their cars parked along narrow Lime Kiln Road on the other side of the bridge, and children still hold hands as they cross the angled span to board the school bus.

Although Loudoun County supervisors on May 20 approved a declaration of emergency, allowing the county to bypass normal contracting procedures to help the stranded community south of Oatlands, their action has not resulted in the type of quick resolution residents were hoping for.

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Crooked Bridge Damage

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Crooked Bridge was damaged by flooding on May 11 and 12, and deemed not safe to drive over. A parking lot has been made near the bridge so people don't have to park on Lime Kiln Road, although sometimes it's too full. Some people still drive across. Motorists park in this area as a car whizzes by on Lime Kiln Road. (Susan Biddle)

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Some motorists still drive across the bridge as other cars are parked to right. (Susan Biddle)

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A parking lot has been made near the bridge so people don't have to park on Lime Kiln Road, although sometimes it's too full. People park along the road and in a small lot to left. (Susan Biddle)

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A pedestrian at the left end of the bridge walks across it. (Susan Biddle)

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Debris piled upstream during the rush of water and caused damage to bridge. (Susan Biddle)

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“Obviously, when you’re in a situation like this, you would like to have it fixed the very next day,” resident Lori Latka said.

“Regular things — grocery shopping, taking out your recycling and your garbage — . . . it takes a lot longer at this point to do your regular stuff,” resident Stephanie Butkiewicz said.

Those with four-wheel-drive vehicles have been able to get in and out of the neighborhood by using a dirt path in a cornfield. Others took a chance by driving once over the damaged bridge, parking on Lime Kiln Road and walking back to their property.

The path through the cornfield provides a way for police, fire and rescue vehicles to reach the community, and county officials say they are pursuing the option of building a more permanent road that would serve all residents.

Officials said they are trying to reach an agreement with three private property owners whose land would be affected by such a road. They said two of the owners have been cooperating, but the county has had trouble engaging the third owner in discussions.

Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said county staff members are working to alleviate the landowner’s concerns. If that option does not work out, he said, they will need to discuss possibly repairing or replacing the nearly 40-year-old wooden bridge.

The various alternatives will be presented by staff members to the Board of Supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We said we would try to work toward helping them get access,” Assistant County Administrator John Sandy said of the residents. “That cooperation could range from providing them information on some technical [issues] on either road-building or bridge-building, or [providing] funding. But all those considerations and those questions and decisions would have to be weighed by the Board of Supervisors.”

Butkiewicz said she is worried that the county’s involvement might be limited to helping the residents figure out how to fund the necessary improvements on their own.

Latka said such fears are premature because discussions haven’t advanced that far and neither the county nor the community has settled on a solution. However, she added, “we wouldn’t be able to do a bridge or a road without some kind of support.”

Burton acknowledged that having the residents pay for bridge repairs, through a mechanism such as a special tax district, “would be prohibitive because there aren’t that many of them and the bridge repair costs are going to be rather expensive.”

He said the county government is committed to helping the residents solve their predicament.

“We may not have a legal obligation to do anything about the bridge because it is a private bridge and private road,” Burton said, referring to Crooked Bridge Lane. “But I think we have a moral obligation to provide that community with some kind of access.”

Residents are willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure vehicular access to their properties, Latka said.

“That’s what we’re mostly grappling with right now,” she said. “So hopefully by the time we get to September and school’s starting again, or to winter, there’s an option that doesn’t involve walking across that bridge.”

Tagged: bridge, Crooked Bridge, flood

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