By Nancy Leighton
The Woodland Avenue bridge over Intrenchment Creek has been hit by a falling tree for the second time in recent months.
The first tree fell in early April. It was a huge tree, but only the outer branches hit the bridge. The long branches damaged the bridge’s railing when they extended over the road. The bridge had to be closed until city crews could cut everything away.
The second tree fell on June 18. Nearby neighbor Louise VanGieri said she heard a loud boom around supper time, followed by an electricity outage. She looked out her front door and saw that a tree had fallen. It had ripped down the power lines and completely covered the street. Louise called 911 and a police officer assigned to the area came and blocked off the street. Meanwhile, computers signaled Georgia Power about an outage on Woodland Avenue.
The city crews worked to clear the way enough for cars to pass, but left a pile of cut logs on both sides of the road at the north end of the bridge. Georgia Power worked until after 2:00am to get the power back on for area residents.
The piles of logs stayed at the end of the bridge for several weeks. Councilwoman Carla Smith and her assistant, Brenda Hampton, had to make a number of calls to get the city crews to go out and finish the work. Finally the logs were picked up on July 3.
The bridge over Intrenchment Creek has taken a beating this year. Three trees slipped off the steep south bank into the creek next to the bridge due to excessive rain. Two of the trees hit the north end of the bridge. The age of the bridge is unknown. It is very narrow and it appears that it could be about 75 years old. The bridge needs to be inspected to learn if it is structurally strong enough to carry the traffic. An inspection could not be arranged before deadline time.
The bridge is the only alternative route for crossing Intrenchment Creek between Moreland Avenue and Boulevard, making it vital for area residents to travel around the neighborhood without going great distances out of their way.
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