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Bridge not likely to be replaced
Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 14, 2008 by Ace Stryker Associated Press
Dewey Bridge is gone, and building a replacement is a long shot.
That was the message Wednesday from the head of the Grand County Council, who said it would be costly and imprudent to build a replacement for the 92-year-old structure.
The bridge, which spanned the Colorado River between Moab and Grand Junction, Colo., was destroyed Sunday after a 7-year-old boy at a nearby campground started a brush fire with matches.
"It is no longer a historic site," Gene Ciarus said. "It would be a new bridge -- a resemblance of the old bridge or a resurrection or whatever. There is a difference."
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Ciarus said the council will take up the issue Tuesday. He hopes to assign a committee to talk about how to proceed but said money likely will limit the county's ability to rebuild the bridge.
"This county cannot afford that," he said. "A hundred yards down the river from that is already a new highway bridge that crosses there. To construct a bridge that costs millions of dollars for foot traffic is not likely."
Sheriff Jim Nyland said his office has received several calls from people wanting to donate money. Ciarus wouldn't oppose a privately funded replacement but said there might not be enough support.
"There's been slight support," he said. "Especially from people who lived here the longest."
If a suitable replica is built, the bridge wouldn't necessarily lose its status on the National Register of Historic Places, said Lynn Jackson of the federal Bureau of Land Management office in Moab.
One option: Keep charred remnants of the bridge on the riverbank as a homage to the structure, Ciarus said.
The rest of the bridge, mostly warped pieces, was pulled from the river by county workers, he said.
"It's conceivable that people would say, 'Just leave the A- frames and the cables as some sort of remembrance,"' Ciarus said.
Nyland said his office and the BLM still are investigating the fire, but there's no decision about whether charges will be filed. A meeting with the Grand Junction family is set for Friday.
"I don't think there's going to be any surprises there," Jackson said, referring to what caused the 10-acre fire. "The issue is what do we do after, and I don't have any clue."
There's a feeling of sadness and a "little resent" among county leaders but not much support for prosecuting the child, Ciarus said.
Still, he said, it's a loss residents won't soon forget.
"The prestige is gone. No matter what happens, that is lost," he said. "You just don't build them big, swingy bridges anymore."
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