January 25, 2018

The New Morgan Ford Bridge


 The replacement bridge at Morgan Ford finally opened to traffic on Monday. The road had been closed since spring of 2016, causing long detours for some motorists. My car's navigation system never got the word and directed me to go that way several times. Fortunately I realized what she was doing as soon as I turned onto 6th Street, so I turned around and crossed the Shenandoah on 340/522, although the bridge over the South Fork was also under construction at the time. At least it was not closed, since it was a main route into Front Royal, although there were occasional lane closings and delays.

The new Morgan Ford Bridge is twice as wide and considerably higher than the old one, which was a "low water bridge," safe only when the river was not at flood stage. Since the old bridge, built in 1925, did not have side rails, there were several tragic accidents there at times when bad weather made visibility very limited. Some local landowners opposed the closing of the old bridge, fearing the inconvenience of construction and also the increase in traffic that a modern bridge will bring.

Some residents liked the looks of the old bridge, but this one is much safer, and I think Virginia DOT does a nice job of making bridges look good.

There is still a parking area for boaters and there are plans to improve that too.

Sharing with Fences and Thankful Thursday

11 comments:

  1. Hello Linda!:) Yes, a good looking bridge!Much safer with side rails, and a good solid bridge it turned out to be. I'm glad all the inconvenience of detours is over for you.

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  2. GratulujÄ™ Photoshop love Frombork Europe

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  3. Hello, it is a relief to finally see a bridge done and open to traffic. I am sure we have many bridges around the country that need to be repaired or redone. Enjoy your day and weekend!

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  4. Glad to hear they made it safer even though it can be annoying to deal with the delays and detours. We've had extensive road construction in our city this past year. We've grown quite used to our GPS lady's voice telling us to "turn around when possible" when we try to find our way around through all the detours. Haha!

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  5. Fine pictures and interesting comment on the bridge.

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  6. As a civil engineer, I love to see new bridges!

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  7. Looks a good bridge to me!

    All the best Jan

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  8. That does look like a good bridge. In my rural community we sometimes don't get guard rails...yikes! Thanks for linking up and I hope to see you back next week!

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