CSX’s most frequently-hit railroad bridge reopens to motorists Wednesday as city staff attempt to lessen the crashes with a chain curtain.
The Augusta Commission voted 9-2, with Mayor Garnett Johnson voting yes and commissioners Sean Frantom and Bobby Williams absent, in favor of reopening the Olive Road underpass.
With Frantom out, the commission took no action on hiring an administrator. He is one of six who support Johnson’s push to hire Chief Information Officer Tameka Allen for the post.
In Frantom’s absence, Commissioner Jordan Johnson said the vote is likely to come after a legal session next week.
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Leaders of Good Shepherd Baptist Church, the popular Olive Road church attended by the mayor and other political leaders, appealed to the commission last week about Olive Road being closed since it was struck before the Masters Tournament this year.
The 10-foot, 5-inch passage is the only entrance to the area from Heard Avenue heading south between 15th Street and Kissingbower Road south to Gordon Highway.
Businessman Larry Jones said the current array of signs and devices blocking the passage was “raggedy at best” and included a single stop sign with flashing lights and signs knocked to the ground.
Good Shepherd Baptist Pastor Clarence Moore noted that when a train comes through, it then blocks the Olive Road bridge detour at Kissingbower, sometimes interrupting church traffic for a half-hour, he said.
The blocked access can make residents and churchgoers feel “like we are second-class citizens,” said Moore.
Commissioner Alvin Mason, who returned last week after nearly three months of sick leave due to major surgery, drilled Augusta Traffic Engineer John Ussery about the closure.
Ussery said it was he who made the decision to keep the bridge closed after CSX in May completed repairs needed after the last major crash.
Tall vehicles that strike the bridge have knocked a heavy steel beam loose multiple times, and the crashes often aren’t immediately reported, he said. If the railroad is unaware of damage, it could cause a major derailment, he said.
“The only way to make sure no one strikes this bridge again is to close the road,”
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Mason questioned why Ussery didn’t bring the road closure matter back to the commission after CSX finished its work, and made a motion to seek parts for the chain curtain and reopen the road immediately.
“You talk about what’s being done by a few that affects so many,” the commissioner said. “That area is a very, very busy thoroughfare to that area and the residents that live there.”
Even with the chain curtain – which might alert truck drivers to the low clearance – Mason said Ussery had no way to guarantee crashes will go down, so he shouldn’t leave the road closed.
Ussery said the chain curtain would take about 60 days to find parts for and install. In the meantime, he predicted more vehicles will hit the bridge.
“Be mindful when we’re making a decision of the people it affects,” continued Mason. “It may seem like something really small – ‘hey a bridge is closed,’ – but for those who live, work and play in that area, that bridge is extremely important.”
Mason’s district includes the Diamond Lakes and Hephzibah areas. Jordan Johnson, who represents the Olive Road bridge area, questioned whether the city should spend $70,000 on the chain curtain without seeking help from CSX.
Johnson said residents he spoke with preferred the funds be spent on other things, such as the removal of blighted structures and continued infrastructure repair, rather than a device that’s not guaranteed to work.
“Why not take that $70,000 and put it toward something that neighborhood really cares about?” he asked. “Seventy-thousand is a lot for this city to be paying for something that is not 100 proof.”
Although it’s popular on TikTok and Facebook, the Olive Road underpass is not the only low-clearance bridge in America.
An 11-foot, 8-inch bridge – a foot and three inches taller than Olive Road – had its own website for years, operated by a man who monitored it with webcams. Creator Jürgen Henn, who called the bridge the “Can Opener,” said it was struck by a vehicle about once a month.
The bridge has a height sensor that illuminates a sign warning drivers to turn off if their vehicles are too tall. Norfolk Southern and the North Carolina Railroad Company raised the clearance to 12 feet 4 inches in 2019.
