Historic covered bridge ready to collapse
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. -- The race is on to save the historic Chambers Railroad Bridge. But will the trestle tumble first?
The Cottage Grove City Council passed an emergency resolution Tuesday night to speed up removal of the long-neglected 125-year-old span over the Willamette River. But the plan must first be approved by state and federal regulators.
City Manager Richard Meyers says there's no time to waste.
"It could fall at any moment," he said, pointing to the rotting planks and fire-scarred trusses. "It could topple with another storm, snow or with people playing on it."
Last year, Cottage Grove received a $1.3 million grant from the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program. Meyers said city officials originally planned to remove the bridge last summer but pushed back the timeline a year because of red tape.
Then on Jan. 12 a windstorm ripped through the region, causing a 2-inch lean in the bridge on both ends and city leaders to pick up the pace.
The city's emergency resolution allows it ask for an exemption to a regulation that only permits bridge work during the summer.
Meyers said the city wants to begin removing the bridge as early as next week. The plan is then to rebuild the bridge as a tourist destination, with better access and historical panels. The city is chipping in nearly $140,000 for the project and collecting donations from the public.
"We're ready to go as soon as we get those approvals," Meyers said.
The J.H. Chambers lumber company built the trestle in 1925 to haul logs to a nearby sawmill. The mill later folded and the bridge was decommissioned in 1951. Since then, the bridge has fallen into disrepair and served as a canvas grafitti artists. The railroad tracks have been removed.
Even so, the bridge remains a popular stop along the covered bridge tour of Cottage Grove, which bills itself as the "Covered Bridge Capital of Oregon."
Meyer said the bridge is the "last covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi" and the "most photographed bridge in Lane County."
On Wednesday, tourists snapped pictures of its precarious position.
"Boy, you can really see that lean," said Ray Gregory, who drove from Veneta to check it out.
"In Lane County, we do a pretty good job, for the most part, of taking care of (the bridges.) Of course, this one has kind of fallen by the wayside, but it looks like now we're going to do something about it," Gregory said.
Sandi Anlauf, a Cottage Grove resident, also came to get a look. "Let's hope it's still here and it doesn't go away before they can get to it," she said.
