Sparta Railroad Bridge Major Repairs On Hold

Repairs for Sparta’s railroad bridge at South Carter Street River Park currently on hold.

Sparta Mayor Jerry Lowery said there were discussions amongst city leadership about getting a quote for the repairs but the process will not start until the city has secured grant funding to pay for the project. Lowery said the city has applied for several grants and has not heard back from any of them.

“Until the grant comes in and we don’t even know if it is going to come in, Lowery said. “So if it does not come in right we want to get that done. I’ll say this the wheels of government move too slow for me sometimes and that’s one of them that we’ve been talking about this for a pretty good while.”

Lowery said repairing the bridge is a priority as it connects the walking trail by going over the Calfkiller River. Lowery said he hopes the repairs will be a long-term solution to the constant vandalism problems the bridge has seen over the past couple of years.

“We’ve got people vandalizing some of the bridge area where they are taking a post out and creating a gap that even a small child could fall through,” Lowery said. “So we want to get that fixed where there is no option for that.”

Lowery said in the meantime some minor work has been completed on the bridge.

“You can cross it right now,” Lowery said. “We’ve repaired everything and everything is good. We just want to make it a better and more secure bridge.”

Lowery said the city still has to get with experts to understand the best long term plan for the bridge. Lowery said the city is monitoring the vandalism problem and anyone caught vandalizing the bridge will be prosecuted.