Washington Grove awaits engineering report on bridge

Study probes future of Deer Park ‘Humpback’ bridge

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

by Andrew P. Moisan

Staff Writer

Click here to enlarge this photo

Gazette file photo

Washington Grove is awaiting an engineering study of the Humpback bridge.

Washington Grove will soon receive a final report from an engineering consultant that it hired a year ago to assess the condition of the ‘‘Humpback Bridge” and its prospects for being maintained, leaders say.

The small, Gaithersburg-area town last year hired a North Carolina firm to do the study, amid still-ongoing questions over the future of the historic, one-lane span, also known as the Deer Park Bridge, which the county has said must eventually be replaced as traffic volume grows in coming years.

The report, for which the town paid $5,000, was commissioned in response to a study by the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation earlier in 2005 that envisioned ideas for replacing the bridge, citing a 2004 assessment that found the 60-year-old bridge’s construction ‘‘severely deteriorated” despite rehabilitation attempts.

Leaders and many residents of the town — itself regarded as a historic symbol at a time when modernity is swiftly enveloping the area surrounding it — want to see the bridge preserved, a view that many Gaithersburg authorities have shared.

‘‘It is not unreasonable to be skeptical” of the county’s assessment, Washington Grove Mayor John Compton said, likening the town’s independent review, which is being done by DCF Engineering Inc., to a ‘‘second opinion.”

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz said Tuesday that the possibility of the city accepting from the county some form of co-ownership of the bridge with Washington Grove, a notion that surfaced in a Washington Grove newsletter earlier this year, was ‘‘absolutely” still on their radar.

‘‘We said we want the county, Gaithersburg and Washington Grove to sit down and figure out what we have and what we need and what we can accomplish,” Katz said, referring to a recent work session the city held on the topic.

Tom Pogue, a spokesman for the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation, said Gaithersburg and Washington Grove ‘‘have had reservations” about the county’s aim to replace the bridge, which spans CSX Transportation railroad tracks used by freight and commuter trains. ‘‘This has been kind of a difficult project,” Pogue said.

County spokeswoman Esther Bowring said in a statement late Tuesday that the county ‘‘is still in discussions with the City of Gaithersburg and Washington Grove concerning the best ways to deal with the failing East Deer Park Drive bridge.”

‘‘The County has had several meetings with the City of Gaithersburg and Washington Grove and fully expects to have additional meetings to continue to assess options,” she said.

Washington Grove expects to receive the final report in the next few weeks, if not sooner, mayor Compton said.