East Chilhowie Street Bridge

Originally built in 1885, the historic East Chilhowie Street Bridge had been in continuous use for vehicular traffic from 1885 until 2003. Reportedly the oldest two-lane iron bridge still in use in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it is representative of a bridge building system that was prominent at the time of construction for utilizing shop fabrication and shipping of preassembled parts to the site for erection.

The bridge is a wrought iron Pratt through-truss design with a span of 80 feet 6 inches and 18-foot clear width for traffic. Two five-foot wide sidewalks are cantilevered to the outside of the truss. The relatively porous asphalt deck allowed water and salt to seep through the deck and severely corrode the stringers and vertical truss web member connections, and many layers of lead based paint covered the entire structure.

The Town could have demolished it and replaced it with a standard modern bridge, but pride over the unique structure influenced the decision to renovate, which included the following:

• A platform was built beneath the bridge, suspended from anchor beams placed on the bridge approaches allowing construction crews to do all of their work without entering the river (the use of a platform eliminated the need for environmental permitting related to in-stream work);
• The bridge was encapsulated for removal of the lead based paint; steel plate was added to reinforce the floor beams, while stringers were completely replaced; and
• A 7-inch thick reinforced concrete deck was poured in place.

The total construction time was six months and the total cost for renovation was $492,208.

The bridge serves as a connector link for Marion’s History Walk, River Walk (Middle Fork Holston River), and Park Boulevard Trails and is used by motor vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic. It is a valuable economic development tool that is helping to promote trail-related tourism and Marion’s strong historical heritage and natural recreation assets.

The project received the ACEC/Virginia Honor Award for Engineering Excellence.

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