No resources available for deteriorating bridges

Jan. 6—There are dozens of aging, structurally deficient privately-owned bridges across Wyoming County with little to no resources for assistance to replace or even repair them.

Though on opposite ends of the county, Hannah Ellison and Connie Brown, of Cyclone, and Catherine Whitt, of Amigo, all face the same challenges.

Deteriorating bridges are the only access to their properties and, try as they might, no help seems to be available.

"The problem is there are dozens of private bridges in poor condition in Wyoming County," explained West Virginia Sen. David "Bugs" Stover, R-Wyoming.

"By law, the state Division of Highways cannot provide any assistance for privately-owned bridges," Stover said.

There are more than 150 state-owned bridges in the county and just over 33 percent of those are considered structurally deficient, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics.

Stover has visited the bridges in Cyclone and Amigo. He and his executive assistant have since been trying to find an agency that can provide some type of help, but to no avail.

In Cyclone, the bridge to both Ellison and Brown's properties is 48 years old. Two other homes use the same bridge and the majority of residents are in poor health. One resident is bedfast. The majority of residents are on fixed incomes.

Brown's husband, Jerry, has lived on the property all his life.

"This was his family's property," she explained.

The beams on the bridge are broken and the boards are buckling.

"We can only walk on one side of the bridge now," Ellison said, adding the residents fear it won't be long until that is no longer possible.

"There are a lot of things I took for granted about parking the car near the house," she said.

The families have to park on the roadside now. They've purchased a cart to wheel groceries from the vehicles to their homes.

"It's hard," Brown emphasized, "when you're 60-plus years old and down in your back, to pull a buggy full of groceries across there.

"But, I just have to do it. I just do the best I can," Brown noted.

"I'm a new grandparent," Ellison said. "I carry my grand baby across sometimes and I'm always afraid of falling.

"We've got a bear problem here," she said, adding they fear running into the bear after dark when trying to get from their cars to their homes.

She now takes her car to a family member's house to clean it, to change the oil or the tires.

When the snow plows run, their vehicles have to be moved to keep from being buried in snow, she said. Ellison said several people have suggested they "just move."

"I'd like to move, but not everybody can afford to move," she said.

Estimates to fix the bridge range from $30,000 to $90,000, she noted. One man said the bridge is in such bad shape, he wouldn't even try to fix it.

"This will take equipment, manpower and (specialized) knowledge," Ellison emphasized, adding they don't possess those things.

In Amigo, Whitt must leave her home once a week for a blood disease treatment. Totally disabled, she must be lifted into her wheelchair with a medical lift and wheeled across the disintegrating 80-foot bridge that provides access to her house.

Her late husband rebuilt the bridge after the flood in 2001 and her son makes repairs as best he can, though high water ravages it again and again.

Whitt, however, doesn't need a complete new bridge to access her property.

What she does need is help straightening the cement pier on which the bridge sits and the steel beams need to be lifted so that the 20-year-old railroad ties can be replaced.

She has already purchased the lumber.

"Everything that comes down (the creek) hits my cement pier," Whitt said.

Though she's made numerous phone calls, Whitt has been unable to find an agency or organization that will provide any type of assistance.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin's staff has been very helpful, Whitt said, and found an agency that could provide a grant. Whitt is currently working on the forms required to obtain the grant.

She also contacted West Virginia Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster (WV VOAD), which has constructed several new bridges across the state after floods. The organization told her she didn't qualify for their assistance.

She's also called the governor's office several times, but never received a return phone call, she said.

One person asked her why she didn't "just move."

"I said, 'You want to buy me a house?'

"It's not that easy to move," she emphasized.

"It's a scary thing going across the bridge," Whitt said. "One slip and, God forbid, I'm gone."

Whitt's daughter-in-law or her son pushes the wheelchair across the bridge on two runners her son placed across the deck.

She sometimes holds her two-year-old grandchild while crossing the bridge and worries that if she falls, the baby will be injured as well.

"I can't stand," she said, adding they use the medical lift every day to get her into her wheelchair.

The weekly trips for treatments, to church on Sunday, and an occasional trip to the store are the only time she leaves the property.

The condition of the bridge makes it a nightmare each time.

"I'm at my wit's end," Whitt said.

"I'm not one to ask for help and it's really hurt me to have to ask for help with this," Ellison emphasized. "But it's time.

"The bridge is getting worse every day and we don't have the money to go anywhere else."