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Public safety should always be the top priority of elected officials and should not be deemed exclusive to fire and rescue or law enforcement.
Transportation infrastructure is also an important component of public safety.
For years, the safety of the CSX/Courthouse Road bridge on State Route 630 in Stafford has been the center of numerous safety debates.
The bridge is in dire need of replacement. This single-lane bridge built in 1917 carries not only residents, but also fire and rescue vehicles and recreational and farm apparatus.
The bridge has been classified by professional engineers as structurally deficient. The current weight limit is 15 tons; the bridge is expected to support the weight of fire apparatus that far exceeds that limit.
This project has been pushed to the back burner year after year, and even as recently as the last Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting, was voted down 5 to 2 for replacement funding in order to fund other projects that do not have the same critical need.
Failure of this bridge would have catastrophic consequences to our community and to railroad transport operations, along with the commerce that the East Coast rail system supports.
We've seen the results of failed infrastructure. The bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a wake-up call to those responsible for the upgrade and maintenance of bridges. These failures are often the result of misplaced priorities.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board is said to be moving forward and has proposed to allocate funding to replace this bridge so as to obviate the potential of a catastrophic event, while providing neighbors and emergency responders the improved safety they are entitled to.
Irene Egan
Stafford
