SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The City of Suffolk is asking for community members’ thoughts on building a new bridge to connect one part of town to another.
It’s something city leaders said they have been discussing for years after the Kings Highway Bridge that connected Chuckatuck and Driver was demolished about 15 years ago. It was deemed unsafe and closed to traffic in 2005 and was demolished shortly after.
WAVY reached out of the Virginia Department of Transportation to learn more about past discussions for a new bridge. Here’s their statement:
“The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) participated in the survey for the demolition of the old bridge in 2008 at the request of the City of Suffolk. All raised concerns were considered at that time. In 2008, VDOT maintained that section of Kings Highway and VDOT’s Structures and Bridge division determined that due to the state of the bridge it could not be maintained. Funding was obtained to replace it at that same location. The City of Suffolk preferred a different location for the new bridge, which increased the magnitude, and therefore the cost, of the project. The funding for the new location was not available.“
City leaders tell 10 On Your Side they’re once again discussing the feasibility of building a new bridge in the future. The community is torn.
“The little town of Chuckatuck here, if they dump all that traffic back into it, it’ll be non-existent. It’ll be a bottle-neck, said Suffolk resident John Umphlett.
“I definitely want to see one in my time, but you know with speculation and promises, I pray on it,” said longtime Suffolk resident Roosevelt Jones.
Ever since it closed in 2005, drivers have been taking about a 19-mile detour.
“They terminated that bridge and it put us like 20 minutes out of the area of Portsmouth,” Jones said.
Some residents like Umphlett don’t mind the longer commute.
“It’s no problem for me,” he said. “It’s just a simple drive. I’m not in no hurry to go nowhere.”
City leaders said the demolition of the old bridge didn’t demolish discussions about it.
“I don’t think it’s left the forefront of the mind of really anybody who lives along that corridor,” said LJ Hanson, director of Public Works in Suffolk. “To the best of our knowledge, it’s the only primary road in the Commonwealth of Virginia that doesn’t have a complete road in place.”
Hanson said they’re working to figure out the best location for a new bridge after hearing some concerns.
“You can imagine if you own property by the western shore of the Nansemond [River] and now there’s going to be something that’s 35 or 65 feet in the air, that’s going to impact your viewshed, potentially your property, and there’s some concern about that,” he said.
The city wants to know if residents even want a new bridge, and are working to find funding. Hanson made it clear the city currently has no funding for this project as of right now.
He also said it’s too early in the process to give a price tag for the bridge or a timeline. They are creating a survey for Suffolk residents to get their input.
