The wooden bridge on West 14th Street in North Little Rock has been closed to traffic for over a year now.
And residents have questions about the unique structure, wanting to know if there's any update.
So, 11 Listens got answers.
North Little Rock’s nearly 100-year-old bridge on 14th Street is structurally unsafe.
"The bridge will be dismantled and it's going away," said Nathan Hamilton, communications director for the City of North Little Rock. Hamilton said back in April the city and Union Pacific railroad decided to close it permanently, creating an inconvenience for some who used it as a detour whenever oncoming trains blocked 13th Street.
"Unfortunately, the expense and unsafe condition of this bridge just does not counteract that small inconvenience,” said Hamilton. He adds that both the police department and MEMS report that the closure will not substantially affect emergency response time.
But before it's demolished there is work to be done. “We want to have a plan in place for how it's going to dead end at this point we can’t just have a ledge falling off so we're going to have to do some work and that has to be engineered, so that's in the process right now," said Hamilton.
There's no set timeline on when it will all come down, but Hamilton said it will happen soon. In the meantime, some have already asked about plans to construct a new bridge across the tracks.
“We're interested in hearing from residents about what type of crossing and where they would like it whether it’s over on 13th Street or here at 14th and some of the design issues that have to go into that," Hamilton added.
Right now, there's no public input scheduled, but Hamilton said it will be a top priority when the time comes. He added there's also a common misconception that the bridge is historic, but most of it was built in the 1980s.
Therefore, the bridge is not listed on any historic registries.
If you have a question or concern about something in your neighborhood, send us an email to 11listens@thv11.com