The following article appeared with the above image in the Auburn Plainsman.
Bridging the gap
in Salem
By Yun Mi Yi
Managing Editor
June 16, 2005
The Lee County
Commission voted unanimously Monday evening to support efforts in restoring the Salem-Shotwell bridge that collapsed into
the Wacoochee River June 4.
"We would like very much to get the bridge back up," said
Carl Summers Jr., head of the Lee County Historical Society. "The main thing is to go ahead and get the tree cut and get a
crane to get the bridge out of the water."
The main concern citizens have right now is to pull the
tree out of the water so the bridge can be analyzed for restoration.
"If it's pulled up now, and we get the truss sections laid
out, it should straighten up," Summers said. "But if we don't go ahead and do that right away, it probably won't be usable."
According to Summers, the Lee County Historical Society
has contacted a crane firm out of Columbus as a possible client, but no plans are concrete and other crane companies are being
looked at.
To help fund the restoration process, Summers hopes leftover
grant money will be given to cover costs.
"In 1999, the federal government had a $50 million grant
program for historic covered bridges," Summers said. "All that money was allocated, but three of those bridges have burned,
and we think possibly some of that money is left."
The Lee County Historical Society has also contacted Mike
Hillman, an engineer in Cullman who specializes in covered bridges.
"He gave us an estimate on what it would cost to get that
one up and renovated," Summers added. "It's $250,000 to $400,000."
But since Hillman has not yet seen the bridge, the estimate
could potentially change once the bridge is out of the water and laid out for him to make an evaluation.
"The reason why we can't (make an early evaluation) is
because you don't know what happened to the trusses until you get them out of (the water)," said Mary Norman, president of
the Auburn Heritage Association. "If you have too many trusses that are broken, then you don't have a bridge that's restorable."
During the meeting, County Commissioner Mathan Holt had
a few concerns about the leadership and direction of the restoration process.
"We need somebody to head this up," Holt said. "I would
love to restore the bridge, but I don't want this to turn into a fiasco where somebody is not looking at it and giving direction."
"I would be willing to make a motion to allocate $5,000
out of any emergency fund we may have because I think this is an emergency," Holt said.
Harry Ennis, county commissioner and former county engineer,
amended the motion in supporting efforts to restore the bridge to also be able to spend up to $5,000 in repairs if the bridge
is restorable. County Commissioner Annell Smith-Woods seconded the motion.
Within the next few days, Neal Hall, the county engineer
will contact a crane company to find out what the county has to do to get the crane to remove the tree, Summers said. The
roof of the bridge will then be removed as well as the trusses so experts can decide what to do next.
The Salem-Shotwell covered bridge was one of 13 covered
bridges in Alabama and stood 75 feet across for over a century.
