Aiken heads back to the drawing board over Fairfield Street Bridge
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Figuring out what to do with the Fairfield Street Bridge in Aiken is not getting any easier.
One plan previously considered involved tearing down and rebuilding the historic bridge that connects to the Historic District of Downtown.
Community spoke out against the plans, stating that the bridge holds landmark status. Residents say they want a design that reflects the historic aspects of the community.
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The city withdrew its application at the last design review board to start over with plans for the deteriorating bridge.
Design plans for the Fairfield Street bridge in Aiken are still up in the air.
One plan considered involved tearing down and rebuilding the historic bridge, which connects to the historic district of downtown.
It’s been a long process since the city took over the bridge from the South Carolina Department of Transportation last year.
The main hurdle was finding funds to fix the bridge.
But now, they have to go back to the drawing board for a new design, which means the process is going to take a little longer.
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After nearly a decade, a plan to possibly pull the barricades away was withdrawn.
“We replicated a design that was used for the York Street Bridge, and that particular design needed some refinement based on from the public and from the Design Review Board,” said Stuart Bedenbaugh, Aiken city manager.
And the city is heading back to the drawing board.
“We’re going to take the from the public and the design review board. The expectation is we’ll come up with a bridge design that has that sort of feel, and also in keeping with the historic aspects of the community,” said Bedenbaugh.
Ashby Reynolds has lived next to the bridge since 2014, and says it’s always been a special part of her neighborhood.
“We loved it. It was like we called it the old bumpy bridge. We could hear like the bump bump of the cars. After we moved in, in almost two years, they closed it, but it was still wonderful because we could walk over it as we had children and they grew, we really enjoyed it,” said Ashby Reynolds, lives near the bridge.
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It’s not the only bridge closed down. One street over is the Union Street Bridge, which is also littered with road closed signs and orange cones.
“It’s sort of disappointing in this beautiful neighborhood. To walk up to detour signs and chain link fences, and the bridge is just really deteriorated,” said Reynolds.
Like many in her neighborhood, she hopes the bridge’s history doesn’t get forgotten.
“We would love a pedestrian bridge. And I think pretty much everybody in our neighborhood would agree with that. We also would be okay with seeing a bridge that cars were allowed on, as long as it looks exactly as is,” said Reynolds.
The city says it will take several months for another redesign.
During that time, they are going to continue to take public input into consideration.
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