Home > Our Man Downtown > Archives > 2009 > May > 21 > Entry
Washington Ave. bridge gets its close-up
In any other Texas town of Waco’s size, the Washington Avenue bridge would be considered postcard-worthy. It’s 108 years old, 450 long and it has the unwieldy distinction of being “the longest and oldest single-span truss bridge still open to traffic in the United States.”
It’s a thing of rugged beauty, but eclipsed by the older and more distinctive Waco Suspension Bridge just a stone’s throw away. So it’s good to see the old iron workhorse getting a $4.8 million makeover with state funds. The crews are stripping it down for repainting, and replacing some joints to ensure it lasts well beyond my lifetime. The bridge will be painted black, its original color, and it will become once again a two-lane bridge.
Even under surgery, it’s eyecatching. The construction contractor has wrapped in a billowy tent as if by the artist Christo. I walked down a couple of times this week with my camera to capture the play of light and shadow on the sheathing. Here are some morning shots:
I shot the following photos Monday evening mostly from the east side of the river. It was a perfect spring day, and the river trail leading to Bledsoe-Miller Park was bustling. It looked like a scene from an artist’s rendering: Families feeding ducks, old and young men fishing with cane poles, and in the distance, lovers leaning over the rail at the Suspension Bridge.
Bethany and I walked over and checked out the cypress tree we planted there as part of our wedding, nearly six months ago. It’s looking fine, sprouting out bright green bristles. It’s part of a line of cypress trees, and hopefully will provide a nice backdrop to future postcards of the restored Washington Avenue bridge.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment |
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Post a comment
Before you comment, please take a few moments to make sure that what you're saying is civil and respectful. We don't tolerate personal attacks, insults, name-calling, impersonations or generally hateful comments — they don't make for a pleasant (or productive) conversation. We want to raise the level of debate and encourage a wide diversity of viewpoints — and that means disagreeing without being disagreeable. If you wouldn't say it to your grandmother, you probably shouldn't say it here.
Your comment will be removed from WacoTrib.com if it runs afoul of these guidelines or anything else in our site's visitor agreement.
*HTML not allowed in comments. Your e-mail address is required.
Comments
By mikey
May 21, 2009 4:38 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
The town of Natchitoches Louisiana has the muddiest darkest looking river you ever saw running through it. But people there have built boat docks, business’s, water fountains ect. on it. Many boats were churning up the coffee brown water. An older historic part of the town overlooks the river. The water makes the Brazos look like a Caribbean beach but the people make the most of it and seem to be having a ball. We just happened to cruise into that part town by accident but my, my, it was a most charming little place. I was very much impressed by the towns attitude for historical restoration and preservation. Waco could learn much from this little town in Louisiana.
By j.b. smith
May 21, 2009 5:09 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Out of curiosity I looked at Natchitoches’ Wikipedia page, and from the looks of their festival schedule, it’s a nonstop party there. A town one-tenth our size, with twice the festivals. Including one for their legendary meat pies.
By mikey
May 21, 2009 7:33 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
From the Wikipedia website: In the 1970s, Natchitoches experienced an economic downturn that resulted in a sixty-five percent vacancy in the commercial district. However, because of efforts to revitalize the city, vacancy is now around one percent. All this in a little town of less than 18,000! This is a perfect example of the “little engine that could”. Instead of sending our council and chamber members to other cities, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies, we need to send them to Louisiana for lessons in how to revitalize a city. Take everybody on one of those new-fangled city buses that everyone is so proud of. Its only a 1/2 days drive. (Hope it dont catch fire).
By David
May 22, 2009 4:06 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I like to take my family down there in the evenings on weekends sometimes just to walk around the bridge area down there. The bridges, water, geese, and ducks are pretty nice.
The complaint I have on the area is a general complaint with the level of river pollution there. Especially bad on the side of the indian springs park bridge on the side opposite of the convention center… there is a little inlet there next to the MLK theme painted wall that is just FULL of garbage… when we were there a couple of weeks ago there was even a dead turtle floating amongst the garbage.
a) People shouldn’t throw their trash on the ground or in the water. Unfortunately some people are lazy jerks and there isn’t much that can be done about it. b) It would be nice if the city could do something about it. At minimum try to clean up the area around the bridges on a weekly basis and hopefully those “goat” devices mentioned will help the amount of garbage that comes from upstream (assuming the city is actually doing that VS just one of the many things they talk about but never do)
The Waco waterfront is pretty nice overall as-is, with a little work and a little development it could turn into quite a gem.
By Dustin
May 24, 2009 12:45 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Waco has a nice nature setting, but with the ghetto being not far from there it can only be so nice… IMO the people that live on the north side of the river and that community r what make me stay far away from the river…
By river rat
May 28, 2009 11:09 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
No boat ramp in the immediate area, but I still got my little sailboat in the river under the Washington Ave bridge. Photos on the “H.O.T. Spot” area of this website, search for “river”.
By mikey
May 28, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
river rat; There used to be a boat dock on the Brazos between the I-35 bridge and the former Brazos Queen. The fire dept. used to launch their old ancient 25 cent boats there. I’m not sure if it is still there or not. Brazos Park East or whatever you call it, has places to launch a boat also.
By Citizen
June 5, 2009 8:52 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I am all for preserving history, but spending state or anyones money, now on a waseful project like this is just stupid. How many millions or hundreds of thousands is this costing us, the tax payers? How many jobless families could we feed and clothe in this bad economy? You people applauding this work are the same ones that are worried because we are losing our 3 big automakers, wondering how this could happen, and then going out and driving away in your Toyota or Honda. Stupid folks will always be around.
By Dale
June 6, 2009 3:16 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I am all for saving history. A 100 plus year old bridge is definitely history and worth saving. If a “Citizen” had their way, we would be tearing down the Suspension Bridge, the county courthouse, the Hipodrome, and the ALICO building as well. With a mindset like that, it is no wonder Waco has very few historic structures left.
By get rid of em
June 13, 2009 4:38 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Now that you mention it, We could tear down City Hall (useless as a wet paper sack), Courthouse (Corruption/Good Ole Boy Mentality) and the new Chamber of Commerce (Looks like a Mosque in Iraq). And last but not least all those drug infested fleabitten motels around Waco. (Townhouse, Uptown, Lone Star, Mardi Gras, C&E, Astro, Oak Lodge, Sandman). Gotta give Bellmead credit for cleaning up their’s.
By Dale
June 14, 2009 5:47 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
The problem is not the public buildings. It is the people that are elected by the voters in this county to work in them. As far as motels go, now that is another story.