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Damaged bridge still has residents stranded
Residents living along a rural road south of Leesburg are still feeling the effects of recent flooding as their only means out of their tiny community is still too unsafe for vehicles to pass over.
Heavy rains flooded the Goose Creek May 12, sending large amounts of debris under the wood and concrete Crooked Bridge, near Lime Kiln Road, causing it to lift up and twist, officials said, cutting off 13 families on Crooked Bridge Lane.
And while the structure is still standing, it is dangerously tilted toward the creek on one side.
"It's not like it's treacherous, but we are not sure how stable it is," said Lori Latka, who lives a mile up from the bridge on Crooked Bridge Lane. Instead of repairing it, she suggested that the bridge be replaced or another permanent road leading off their road be built.
"We can't keep doing this," she said.
Stephanie Butkiewicz is also one of the 51 people who lives on Crooked Bridge Lane.
"We have no way out of here," she said May 16, adding that some residents have chanced driving across the bridge or through a nearby field so they can have a vehicle on the opposite side.
"We're parking our cars on one side of the bridge and walking across. ... This is going to get old quick," she added.
Residents met with county officials May 13 to discuss repair plans and alternative routes off Crooked Bridge Lane.
One temporary fix being considered is to lay gravel across a cornfield so residents could drive to Oatlands Road to the south. However, the owner of the field would have to approve this plan, said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge).
"And right now, that is not a sure thing," he acknowledged. "But we have to be able to get fire and rescue back there. Right now a firetruck cannot cross that bridge. We have to work something out."
Another problem residents and officials are facing is that no one is sure who owns the bridge. Apparently, there was once a plaque on the structure that indicated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had built it.
Burton said county officials are now attempting to verify this and determine who is responsible for fixing or replacing the bridge.
No one is sure when all this will be hashed out or when the bridge will again be usable.
"This could take a long, long time," Burton predicted.
Times-Mirror staff writer Elizabeth Coe contributed to this report.
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