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Bristol City outlines replacement and rehabilitation plan for three aging bridges
Summary
City engineers and consultants described plans to replace or rehabilitate three century‑old bridges — Goodson Street, Oak Street and a partial superstructure replacement on Martin Luther King Boulevard — and said the combined project will be advertised by June pending coordination with VDOT and Norfolk Southern.
City of Bristol officials detailed plans Jan. 27 to replace or rehabilitate three bridges more than 100 years old and described a schedule that officials say will be advertised by June.
Director of Public Works Jake Chandler introduced the State of Good Repair bridge projects; design consultants Jeremy Schlussel, project manager, and Maria Lang, senior structural engineer, outlined the work. The Goodson Street bridge over Beaver Creek is proposed as a full replacement that would preserve the existing abutments while a new span is built behind the current structure and will include two traffic lanes and two sidewalks. The Oak Street bridge — a two‑span structure over the Norfolk Southern railroad — would be replaced with a single span to ensure clearance; that bridge is currently closed and routed via a detour. The Martin Luther King bridge will receive a partial superstructure replacement while preserving the lower structure from the 1970s, which will continue to require routine maintenance.
Consultants described planned detours and a potential left‑turn lane addition at the Bristol train station to reduce traffic impacts during construction. Jeremy Schlussel said the three bridges will be combined into a single project to attract more bidders and that coordination with the Virginia Department of Transportation, utility companies and Norfolk Southern is required. Schlussel said the intended sequence is to start with the MLK Jr. bridge, then proceed to Goodson Street after water‑line work, and finish with Oak Street once railroad approvals are secured.
The presentation did not include a formal council vote on design or funding; staff said additional approvals and stakeholder agreements will be required before construction begins. The city’s next steps include design finalization and permitting, and staff indicated the procurement timeline targets advertising the combined project by June.
