Residents fighting for forgotten Florenceville bridge
The covered bridge has been closed for 4½ years, and government has no plan to repair it
A covered bridge in western New Brunswick is facing an upriver battle.
But nobody in power seems to be paying attention, according to a small group of Florenceville-Bristol residents.
It doesn't help that the structure is overshadowed by a downriver counterpart — the Hartland Covered Bridge — which is known for being the longest covered bridge in the world and has been undergoing repairs since January.
One lifelong Florenceville-Bristol resident has tried to raise awareness about the partially covered Old Florenceville Bridge, which spans the St. John River.
"We did a petition," said Gordon Hunter. "We got … when I stopped counting, just over 4,600 people."
The Old Florenceville Bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic for 4½ years.
A year before that, Hunter said, vehicle traffic was being diverted over the bridge, so it came as a surprise to him when the government said the bridge was unsafe.
"Corrosion on steel members in most of the sections has rendered the bridge unsafe for vehicle traffic," Jacob MacDonald, a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson, wrote in an email.
He said the bridge is among the oldest structures in the department's inventory.
And while Hunter wants to see the bridge repaired for historical and convenience purposes, the province says it would be too costly.
MacDonald said the estimate is between $25 million and $45 million. He said the bridge is still open to pedestrians.
In his email, MacDonald said the Department of Transportation "remains open to further discussions on the future of this structure."
Dr. Clay Marco, a Florenceville-Bristol resident and local doctor, has a proposal that he says wouldn't cost anything but would make the bridge a point of pride for the community, even if vehicles still couldn't use it.
"My needs, I think, are fairly straightforward," he said.
A sign at one side of the bridge shows a green circle around a pedestrian and bicycle, and another sign shows a crossed-out vehicle.
But in front of the concrete barriers that block vehicles from entering, there are two big orange signs that say "covered bridge closed." Marco wants them removed.
"Every tourist that comes into town basically parks along our Main Street, which is beautiful in the summer — the community does a great job with flowers. …But [the tourists] go right to our historic bridge and they want to take pictures."
What they get in their pictures, however, are the two orange signs about the bridge being closed.
"I think it's a real turn-off for people and a disappointment when they come to visit our little town to see those orange signs, especially year after year after year."
Marco's main hope is to simply have the signs taken down, but he thinks even more could be done after this happens.
"Like Port Elgin, for example, … has really turned one of their little bridges into a focal gathering point for their community, for flea markets, music events, all sorts of things, lighting," he said.
"So it's not only important for tourists, it's important for all of us to have this very historic bridge again being a source of pride for our community, not embarrassment.
"I don't see why we can't achieve that."
In an email, MacDonald said the placement of the closure signs adheres to mandatory "regulatory requirements." But he said a new sign is being made to clarify that it is only vehicular traffic that isn't permitted.
While Marco and Hunter may have different ideas about bringing the bridge back to life, they both agree that the historic structure is important to the community.
Hunter would also like to see some historical misconceptions about the bridge corrected.
For example, the sign on the front of the bridge and a plaque next to it during the summer both say the bridge was built in 1911.
But Hunter argues the date of the original bridge is much earlier, and he has a newspaper article talking about its opening in 1886.
The plaque has another inaccuracy, said Hunter.
"Their sign said that the original bridge burned down, which is far from true," he said.
He agrees there was a fire in the bridge's early days, but it didn't burn the bridge down.
Hunter said whenever he sees someone new in town examining the plaque or looking at the structure, he'll inform them of the history as he knows it.
He wishes more could be done for the bridge in its current state.
"They've discontinued keeping the lights on on it … and they don't remove the snow in the winter," he said. "Sometimes I plow it."
But he said it's disappointing that there haven't been any big public shows of support for the bridge since its closure.
"When I think of other locations in New Brunswick that had places close down, they managed to organize public support," he said.
"Nobody did it here."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
