Belcher Bridge is coming down for NS Corridor

Norfolk Southern contract crews have set up warning signs, and one of Bluefield, W. Va.'s bridges that traverses the NS main line in the city's East End will be coming down within the next two weeks
, 
the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports.

Robin Chapman, NS spokesman
said, "the span will come down the week of July 19," although crews are already
working to remove the bridge decking material and preparing the structure for
its removal.



"There will be a 10-hour
outage as crews remove the span," Chapman said. "It’s not going to affect our
traffic."



The Belcher Bridge, also
known as the Hardy Street Bridge, represents the final piece in NS’s
multi-million dollar Heartland Corridor project aimed at removing the physical
obstacles for double-stacked freight loads on the route from Chicago, Ill., to
Hampton Roads, Va.



"We have completed the work
we needed to do on Wayne Street to improve access for residents living in the
East End," Bluefield Mayor Linda Whalen said. "We researched the idea before we
decided the right way to go on the project. The traffic count on that bridge
was minimal, and the railroad is giving us compensation for the bridge that we
can apply to meet the local match to receive federal stimulus funds so we can
repair the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge."



Whalen said that the city
was fortunate to find a way to get the MLK Jr., Bridge repaired with no
out-of-pocket expense for the city.



"It’s really to Andy
Merriman’s credit," Whalen said. "He was able to work all of this out and make
this happen."





The Belcher Bridge had
been a main access point to the old J.B. Belcher Lumber sawmill that had been
located in the East End of Bluefield.