I had a good talk with Doug Moon, of the “Save Our Bridge” campaign, and John Field, the new publicity lead for the South Yuba River Park Association, about the Bridgeport Bridge. Doug had written a letter to The Union about the effort: “Our elected officials have demonstrated leadership from day one in our community’s efforts to save the Bridgeport Covered Bridge. That is why we must respectfully disagree with Mr. George Boardman’s recent editorial to the contrary.”
Doug thanked our business for its $300 donation to the Gold Panning Exhibit at Gold Rush Days in Grass Valley, as well as the letter of support we wrote Gov. Brown for the the Bridge Restoration effort. Brown approved the $1.3 million expenditure in the latest budget.
Both Doug and John also gave me a “scoop” on the effort to stabilize and repair the historic bridge. It begins on September 2 with a stabilization effort.
A “girdle” of cable is placed under the bridge running parallel to the bridge and underneath it, Doug explained. It is expected to take a few months. The stabilization will help protect the bridge from troublesome winter weather.
Both Doug and John joked that the bridge would not be too photogenic with all the cables around it.
At the same time, engineering work and permitting already is getting underway for the bridge, Doug said. The restoration is a 2-3 year process. The work is expected to begin in 2015-16 and be completed in 2016-17 or perhaps 2018.
I can’t think of a better example of collaboration between local officials, nonprofits and residents than this effort, as I have written before.
