Community excited about new bridge

GROVE, Okla. (AP) -- A new span across Grand Lake isn't quite ready for traffic, but that isn't stopping local residents from celebrating. A ribbon-cutting and parade involving as many as 300

Tuesday, February 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GROVE, Okla. (AP) -- A new span across Grand Lake isn't quite ready for traffic, but that isn't stopping local residents from celebrating. A ribbon-cutting and parade involving as many as 300 Grove school children was scheduled this morning to welcome the ompletion of the first phase of the new Sailboat Bridge.

The two-lane bridge, with its accompanying pedestrian and bike lanes, is expected to open to traffic later this week. The old bridge will then be torn down and work will begin on another span, which will mean four lanes of traffic when the project is complete next year. The children will march the half-mile across the new bridge.

Excitement over the festivities has been building in Grove, said Gary Dunham, assistant city manager. "We've had several callers wanting to know if they can march,too," he said. The entire project totals nearly $25 million and is the single most expensive contract ever let by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The original bridge was built in 1939 over the Elk River arm of the lake and carries one lane of traffic in each direction of U.S.59. Work on the new bridge began two years ago.

Helen Crawford plans to lead today's parade. The 87-year-old'strip across the original bridge in 1939 may have been the first. Crawford said the first Sailboat Bridge sat completed for more than a year without approach lanes because of a dispute over who was to finish the roadways. But one day, Crawford shoved the barricades aside and drove across, chauffeuring a district judge who needed to be in court in Bartlesville. "My dad had a car lot and sold the judge a car," Crawford said. "The only problem was he didn't drive, so I gave him a lift. In those days, we couldn't get across the lake except by boat, and not many people had one."

Transportation officials had planned to open the bridge to traffic today but snowfall delayed completion of details such as striping, Transportation Department spokeswoman Lu Richardson said. "Once we open the new bridge to traffic, demolition can begin on the old bridge," she said.