By Holly Nine
The closing of the Camp Creek Bridge has been an unfortunate thing to happen for the residents of Clay County who live across the bridge and in the areas across the bridge. The Free Press spoke with a representative from the WVDOH state office in Charleston who told us that there are plans to start construction on the new bridge in November. Although, if the last few land agreements, which they are in the process of working on, don’t go through on time, then the start of construction could be delayed.
We talked with a resident from the Camp Creek area to see how he closure of the bridge impacted her family. Betty Gandee told us that her sister has cerebral palsy and an ambulance, which has had to be called several times in the past, now will take over an hour to get to them. It makes it difficult to get to work in Clay — Gandee now has to drive an hour, a commute which took only 20 minutes before. Not only does it make it difficult to make it to work, but Gandee’s kids play sports, so after driving home after work, she then has to drive back to Clay for practice and activities, which is now nearly impossible. Now, she said, having to sit through three stop lights and multiple road work stops makes it very difficult to get anywhere.
Along with Gandee, there are many other residents who have this situation to deal with now. There are elderly that are on oxygen that could need an ambulance; and, if a vehicle or another type of accident occurred, help would take a while to get on scene.
Hopefully, for the sake of the residents in the Camp Creek and surrounding areas, the construction on the new bridge will start ASAP.