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ROCKVILLE, Washington County — For the couple hundred residents of a tiny town located just south of Zion National Park, a single-lane bridge is a source of pride.
So much so that when, in recent years, the bridge needed renovation, nearly all of the town’s close to 250 residents donated to preserve its history. They have done everything from holding an art show and auction to selling mugs, t-shirts to sorts of trinkets, said Kim Konikow, volunteer chair for the Historic Rockville Bridge Development Committee.
The bridge originally helped provide transportation between the national park and Arizona when it was designed by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads in 1924, cutting travel from the Grand Canyon to Zion National Park by 33 miles.
At 217 feet in length, it is one of the last remaining Parker truss bridges left in the state and crosses over the Virgin River.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
However, with its age comes concerns over its safety as it nears the century mark. It was originally graded to allow 25 tons before it was downgraded to 14 tons and then less than that in recent years, said Rick Torgerson, Utah Department of Transportation Region 4 Director.
“It had reached weight-bearing load, and it was starting to become a problem with the additional traffic,” added Konikow. She notes that newer houses built and the rising amount of tourism in the area has led to that traffic increase.
“Something had to be done,” she said.
At one time, the town and UDOT entertained the idea of building a new bridge or even a second bridge adjacent to the original and making the first a pedestrian-only bridge. Those ideas were eventually nixed.
The plan instead became renovating the bridge and trying to bring it back to code after officials learned it was possible for the bridge to be fully renovated.
“Whenever we can meet the needs of the system and keep an old historic bridge like that in a condition people can use it, we’d love to do that because there are very few of those bridges remaining,” Torgerson said.
That’s where the fundraising began. While the townspeople have done all they can to help fund the project, they have also had the help of all sorts of entities. The state also donated, as did the Simmons Family Foundation, Konikow said. This week, the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation announced it would match up to $75,000.
It reached its goal once, but when the Federal Highway Commission upped its requirements for bridges, she said another $500,000 would have to be raised. After the recent donation, which Konikow said is expected to be matched, the town is a little more than $200,000 away from having the funds. Other grants have been explored, and the last resort, she said, would be the town taking a low or no-interest loan before the project is expected to begin in 2018.
Konikow said the residents have been appreciative of the help the town has received in trying to preserve a little piece of town history.
“It has truly, truly been great,” she said.
In the meantime, they will continue to fund money to keep the piece of history around for years to come. Donations can be made online at www.rockvilleutah.org or to the Town of Rockville, 43 E. Main St., Rockville, Utah 84763.
