The Maryland State Highway Administration
(SHA) accelerated the project due to a celebration of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s creation of the national highway
system. The re-enactment of a 1919 coast-to-coast caravan,
in which Eisenhower took part, will occur in June.
During the nearly 10-week closure, the highway
department will replace the parapet walls of the bridge
– an estimated $149,000 project, according to David
Buck, spokesman for the SHA. South-bound traffic will be
diverted to use MD 140 as a bypass. Local traffic using
southbound South Seton will be able to continue to use the
road up to the point of the bridge work.
Although the 1923 cast-concrete bridge has
suffered over the years from crumbling concrete, it has
been less embattled than its wooden, covered bridge predecessor.
That bridge had to have its top cut off to facilitate the
passage of military vehicles in 1919 as part of a national
experiment to see how fast the army could get from coast
to coast.
Joining the caravan in Frederick, after
the convoy departed Washington, D.C., was Eisenhower, then
a lieutenant colonel in the army.
Jennifer Gavin, American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) deputy
director of communications, said the experiment “was
a really bad experience. The roads were awful.”
The convoy found the roads across the country
in such bad shape it took them more than a month to get
to the West Coast.
Eisenhower was so distraught over what he
found on the trek that creating a national highway system
became a priority as he ascended into the presidency. As
a result of his efforts, the act creating the U.S. Interstate
Highway System became law on June 29, 1956.
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration
of the highway system, AASHTO is organizing a coast-to-coast
“reenactment” of the 1919 caravan, scaled down
to 20 vehicles, and carried out in reverse. The convoy will
leave San Francisco on June 16, with plans to end the trip
in Washington, D.C., on the anniversary date of June 29.
Joining the ride will be President Eisenhower’s
grandson, Merrill Eisenhower Atwater. “We’re
going to start in San Francisco, come across U.S. 80 and
stop at least once in each state along the way,” Gavin
told The Dispatch. “The route (basically)
mimics the one Eisenhower took.”
One of the stops planned will be at the
Toms Creek Bridge on South Seton, which Gavin noted was,
“one of the first bridges savaged to get through.”
Details are pending as far as date and time for the visit.
The SHA spokesman said the Maryland highway
administration wasn’t overhauling the bridge solely
because of the coming event. “It had to be done anyway
but once this (commemoration) was announced the work was
accelerated because of the event. It (the bridge repair)
was in the process of happening anyway.”
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