GATESVILLE, Texas (KXXV) — The historic Leon River Bridge in Gatesville has been closed completely to the public due to safety concerns. This comes after some residents have pushed to restore it, including Jane Vaughn, a member of "Save the 1904 Leon River Bridge."
“The fact that it has lasted this long – a lot of these bridges don’t exist anymore because they were not taken care of, and we have the opportunity to take care of it,” Vaughn said.
“It would be really nice if everyone could come together and advocate for its preservation even further, so it can be put back in use. Like with anything, if you don’t use it or take care of it, it will fall into horrible conditions pretty quickly.”
That's exactly what the City of Gatesville hopes to avoid.
“We are saying temporary,"Brad Hunt, Gatesville city manager, said. "We mean temporary closure. We don’t want to lose the history of Gatesville or disregard it – we think it’s important. We will do all we can to afford to be able to keep it open for public use."
Hunt said the options for reopening include including the repairs in next year’s capital improvement project or parks master plan.
In the meantime, engineers are expected to inspect the bridge and determine the cost of reopening it safely. For Vaughn, that is what it is all about.
“It tells a story of how we got here and all the sacrifices everybody made to get here, and we need to do our due diligence,” Vaughn said.
The bridge was closed to vehicle traffic in 2015.
Last week, the city council approved the temporary closure for pedestrians.
