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WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The Town of Waynesville is seeking at least $1 million in funding to strengthen a bridge that leads to its wastewater treatment plant.
“Twenty thousand pounds of load is fine for farms, but it’s not really enough for what’s going out there. Can the bridge be reinforced with that? Probably,” said David Hyder, a local engineer.
During the early stages of renovating its wastewater treatment plant, the Town of Waynesville discovered that the Walnut Trail Bridge over Richland Creek could not support the weight of construction equipment, according to town documents.
Town officials say the bridge is rated for 40,000 pounds. The renovated plant also requires chemical deliveries from loads weighing about 77,000 pounds on average.
Since Hyder is not the designer for this project, he does not have full access to the reports. But he says the design and age are likely contributing to the bridge’s lower load limit.
“When they limit a load limit, they don’t mean the bridge is going to fall down. That’s the first thing. What it means is that the safe carrying load for this bridge is 20 tons,” said Hyder.
Breanna Jaquish with the Town of Waynesville says they’re seeking disaster recovery funds to strengthen the bridge to handle heavier loads while addressing long-standing structural needs and storm-related damage.
“Hurricane Helene came and exacerbated the condition, so it made a project that we were planning on focusing later down the road kind of come up a little quicker because of erosion and things like that,” said Jaquish.
The town’s public works director says the base of this bridge was damaged in Helene and water crested over the embankment on one side. Neighbor Benjamin Brooks says during Helene, residents were trapped.
“The cops were sitting there and letting nobody through because it was dangerous. And you couldn’t go that way, around by the fairgrounds, because it was under water,” said Brooks.
Because of this, Brooks says he’d rather see the town replace the bridge entirely than rehabilitate the existing structure.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, the Town Council held a public hearing before voting in favor of applying for disaster recovery funds for this project. Since discovering the bridge’s limitations, the town has been relying on an easement that provides cross-country access.
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