The Advance Mills bridge on Route 743 in northern Albemarle County is closed indefinitely after an April inspection revealed several areas of deterioration in the ancient structure’s metal surface. According to Lou Hatter, regional spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), last month’s inspection was a regularly scheduled semi-annual visual assessment, but the cracked surface was enough to persuade VDOT to schedule additional testing that should help determine the extent of the bridge’s structural problems.
 The Advance Mills bridge in northern Albemarle is beautiful and historic—and unusable at the moment, after an inspector noticed suspicious cracks. The county has added it to its secondary six-year improvement plan so that it can be replaced, at an estimated cost of $3.8 million. |
When the bridge is open to traffic, an estimated 1,000 vehicles trustingly venture across its astoundingly aged trusses every day. Small vehicles, that is: The bridge can only handle three tons at a time, which rules out any emergency vehicles, school buses or even pickup trucks with a load of wood in the back. The 19th century structure was moved from an unknown location to its present site in 1943 after a flood washed out an earlier wooden bridge there, and as one of the few remaining Pratt trusses in Albemarle County, the Advance Mills bridge is somewhat of a historical landmark.
In light of recent structural damage, however, the bridge’s liabilities are adding up to outweigh any historical significance. Advance Mills closed for about two months last summer to repair damage to vertical supports, and Hatter says the duration of this most recent closing will depend on the results of additional inspections.
Ultimately, he says, the bridge just needs to be replaced. “It has reached the end of its useful life,” Hatter says. “There’s only so much that can be done to sustain traffic with such a low weight limit.”
Hatter says replacement of the bridge is a priority project on Albemarle County’s secondary six-year improvement plan regardless of this month’s inspection results. “The concept and design of the replacement are moving forward, and in the meantime we’re trying to work with the county to keep the existing bridge open as long as possible. The safety of the people using it is our No. 1 concern,” Hatter says.
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Policy Organization (MPO) Board will host a public hearing May 16 to discuss the possibility of adding the Advance Mills project to its long-range plan. A transportation project must be included in the MPO plan in order to be eligible for federal funding. If approved by the MPO, up to 80 percent of project costs can be federally backed—a subsidy that would speed up the replacement process significantly, Hatter says. He says construction of the new bridge will cost an estimated $3.8 million.
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