Louina Road closing for bridge replacement

When preparatory work begins May 12 to replace the Pumphouse Creek bridge Louina Road will be blocked until work is completed, according to Streets Supervisor Donnie Cash.

Weather permitting, the utilities department will begin rerouting the water line that is suspended alongside the bridge, but actual work on removing and replacing the bridge will start May 18, he said.

Utilities will be disrupted when that water line is taken out. The line has to be cut. The water pressure will drop but not stop, he said. The workers will cut the line loose and put shut-off valves on each end.

The 18-foot wide bridge will be increased to a 22-foot wide road surface. It is a steel frame with a wood road bed and it is deteriorating. The wood needs to be replaced now but to replace it they would have to take up the asphalt and the wood, and it is cheaper to replace the entire thing with a concrete bridge, he said.

When the work begins on the 18th an excavator will remove the old bridge and the area will be excavated. Then the concrete panels will be bolted together.

The bridge is less than a mile from the old Louina Street bridge over the railroad track but it is a curvy, heavily wooded road and Cash wants people to know this is coming.

There will be several detours that will be clearly marked, he said. About a mile from the bridge on the other side drivers can turn right onto County Road 855, a dirt road that will exit beside Clark’s Meat Market on Alabama Highway 22.

Drivers can also turn on Banks Road, across from the old Moose Club, and take that to Country Club Road, exiting near the water tower.

The third detour will be turning from Louina Road onto Seymour Drive. All through traffic will turn on to Seymour which exits onto Chestnut Street. He advises people to pay attention to the signs and the detours.

The length of the closure depends upon the weather, but it will likely take several weeks.

The creek gets its name from the old pumphouse next to the bridge which generated Roanoke’s first electricity. Community service supervisor Frank Fetner said this is where Roanoke got its water and electricity.

Duddy Rorke’s father, E.C. Rorke, moved to Roanoke in 1910 to run the first electric power plant at this location for the few who got electricity.

There was a little waterfall that generated electricity. W.A. Manufacturing made its own electricity. There was no Alabama Power Company here then, he said.