Published: January 09, 2009 10:44 pm      

Sandstone bridge project opposed

Construction could be several years away

Not even a blueprint has been drawn up for a proposed bridge leading from Interstate 64 to Sandstone Falls, but a Hinton-based environmental group is stepping up its opposition on grounds it could inhibit aquatic life in the New River, the world’s second-oldest stream.

Even if a design were in the works, a major obstacle would keep it from being erected right away — the lack of money.

Brent Walker, communications director for the state Department of Transportation, said the bridge under fire by Save Our Mountains was “years away.”

“We haven’t even settled on a design for it,” he said Friday.

Richard Smith, a whitewater outfitter and president of Save Our Mountains, is convinced the span, proposed nearly a quarter century ago, would present problems to certain aquatic life, given the cement barriers and a long line of rip rap placed along the river’s edge.

“For instance, the hellgrammites, are they going to be able to crawl through it?” he asked. “And that’s just one example.”

Rip rap is the rock or other materials employed to armor shorelines and streambeds against water erosion, and Smith views that as detrimental to aquatic life indigenous to the New River, a favorite of anglers in the Hinton area.

“It’s a new threat to the New River,” he said.

Smith’s group, meantime, is still seeking advice from various groups about how to proceed with a lawsuit aimed at gaining a court injunction to block further Bti applications on the New, Greenbrier and Bluestone rivers to combat black flies.

Smith maintains the Bti aerial applications should be stopped until an updated study is performed on the effects on fish and other forms of life in the stream.

As for the proposed bridge, Smith said the idea is to promote the Sandstone Falls area as a scenic stop while ignoring W.Va. 20 that runs from I-64 directly into downtown Hinton — a road he feels deserves the DOT’s support.

“People that come across 64 are going to get off at the new bridge, go to Sandstone, look at Sandstone, go to the bathroom, leave their trash and get right back on,” Smith said.

“As a businessman, we’re looking for Route 20 to be the scenic highway. It comes right over the mountain there. It’s perfect. All they’ve got to do is put a few overlooks in. And not spend the millions of dollars to put this road in. I’ve threatened for years to take a piece of plywood that says, ‘Scenic Route 20’ and put it up there.”

Smith said the plans have been drawn up for the bridge, but Walker disputed that.

“We haven’t arrived at any conclusion there, design or otherwise,” he said.

“We’ve been working with Fish and Wildlife. We’ve been working with several environmental groups about that. We’ve been working with (Rep. Nick) Rahall (D-W.Va.) to do that. We’re quite a number of years away from that.”

Smith agreed the road paralleling the river on the Sandstone Falls side across from Hinton deserves some attention, but insisted a new bridge was unnecessary.

“If they’re going to upgrade, they don’t need to fill the river with cement and rip rap,” he said.

“That’s not what people come here to see. It will cause environmental damage at that barrier between the river and the land.”

Decades ago, he recalled, a ferry operated at Richmond Bottom, hauling passengers at 10 cents apiece. Smith said the idea needs to be revived to attract visitors.

“What about a little ferry, if they want to come off the interstate, and make it an attraction?” he asked.

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com