Bridging Parkway
Delays Goshen Creek project will continue
through spring amid complaints from area businesses
By Scott Nicholson
Spring travelers along the Blue Ridge Parkway will face
continued detours around Boone and Blowing Rock.
The rebuilding of the Goshen
Creek Bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway began in early
2008. File photo
The Goshen Creek Bridge between the Aho and Bamboo areas outside
of Boone on the parkway is still undergoing repairs, with the
completion date already well past and work still under way.
Larry Hultquist, an engineer with the Blue Ridge Parkway office
in Asheville, said the project, which began in early 2008, had
been delayed because of weather and changes to the structural
design of the bridge decking and rails.
“One of the reasons it has been delayed is because of a bad
winter,” Hultquist said. “We also had to change the
plans because of what contractors found when they were working
on the project. We’ve had to recast the concrete, do a redesign,
finish the concrete deck and put up new railing.”
Hultquist said the project had led to concern among local businesses
because of the effect on tourism. He said some business owners
had called the Blue Ridge Parkway office to complain about the
extended closure, with more than six miles of the parkway closed.
“We know it’s been a heartache for people up there,”
Hultquist said. “We didn’t intend for this to take so
long. We have heard indirectly from some commercial establishments
that it’s affecting their businesses in Boone.”
Hultquist said the new workload was important because of safety
concerns. The previous guard rails didn’t meet national highway
safety standards, and the concrete for the decking must stand
up to decades of travel. The previous asphalt decking had complete
cracks in it that allowed visibility all the way through.
The bridge was built in 1948, and, before any repair work begun,
it was extensively recorded and documented by the National Park
Service and North Carolina State Historic Preservation.
These records will be stored in the archives of the Blue Ridge
Parkway, North Carolina Division of Archives and History/State
Historic Preservation Office and the Eastern Federal Land Highway
Division office in Sterling, Va.
The good news for history buffs and those with a sense of nostalgia
for the unique stone bridge is the overall character of the structure
was retained.
“We’ve already done all of the stone work we’re
going to be doing,” Hultquist said. “It has some huge
beautiful granite stones, so we did point work, redid all the
joints and repaired some of the stone from the ground up.
The stonework above the bridge deck was left undisturbed, though
the asphalt covering of the bridge bed will now be concrete. The
picket styles were also changed, but the rock columns plunging
nearly 100 feet will still retain their unique visual impact.
“When you replace a deck on a bridge it has to be done right,”
Hultquist said. “It’s a safety issue, and this contractor
has been slow.”
The project was awarded at $2.68 million, which was $120,000 below
project estimates to Taylor & Murphy Construction Company
of Asheville.
The project was supposed to have been completed by Dec. 15, but
weather delays and a project redesign have now pushed the project
and associated road closing to the beginning of summer. The contractor
and park service also had to renegotiate because of changes to
the project, which further created delays.
The detour between U.S. 321 and the Bamboo section will likely
remain in place until the project’s new completion date of
June 1.
The detour for visitors traveling south begins at milepost 285.5
in Bamboo Gap. Those visitors follow state road (SR) 1514 Bamboo
Road to Deerfield Road, following the detour signs along U.S.
321 south of Boone and connecting back to the parkway at milepost
291.8.
Parkway visitors traveling north begin the detour at milepost
291.8, the intersection of U.S. 321, following the detour signs
along U.S. 321 to SR 1514, Deerfield Road to Bamboo Road, which
will bring them back to the parkway at milepost 285.5.
More information about the project, including archival photographs,
can be found at www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway/history/goshen-creek-bridge.asp.
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