Vern Faulkner of the Local Service District tells Tide News people are worried the covered bridge will be replaced by a boring, concrete run of the mill bridge.
He says, "The bridge does not appear to be significantly damaged. I mean, it looks nasty in the sense that there's a lot of material that was knocked out. To the untrained eye, it looks like there's enough of an opportunity to basically rebuild it, it just a matter of where the money comes from and who is going to do the work." Faulkner adds, it's not a write-off. "A lot of siding was destroyed, but a number of pillars, even though they've been destroyed, doesn't seem like it's affected the structural integrity. The horizontal surface of the bridge is still intact and the roof line is still intact."
Faulkner tells us, people who live in the area fear the Department of Transportation doesn't see the bridge as they do. "A heritage facility that is used and enjoyed by hundreds of people and in many cases, could and can be part of a tourism venture because a lot of people come to New Brunswick to see the covered bridges."
You can have your say at the meeting to be held tonight at the St. Stephen Middle School auditorium beginning at 7:00.
(Photo by Murray Weeks)
