Rails-to-Trails bridge earns state engineering award

Although Jacksonville's Rails to Trails project and its pedestrian bridge have come under fire locally, the bridge over N.C. 24 recently garnered statewide attention after a Raleigh engineering firm received an award for its work on it.

HNTB North Carolina received an engineering excellence award in the Structures and Bridges category from The American Council of Engineering Companies of North Carolina in December.

"It's nice to see that other professionals out there who build things like this regularly recognize the thought that went into this design," said Jacksonville City Manager Kristoff Bauer.

Henry Liles, vice president of HNTB covering North and South Carolina, said the positive nature of the project was one of the reasons it was submitted for the award.

"I feel great about it because it's one of those projects where it really did have an aesthetic quality to it. I mean Jacksonville did not want some bridge out there that just did not say something positive about the city," Liles said. "It's the gateway to Jacksonville; it's out there in front of Camp Lejeune ... Everybody felt like we needed something out there that would represent the city positively."

HNTB did design work on five miles of the Rails to Trails trail as well as all the bridges.

Liles said the aesthetic nature of the bridge was another key reason behind submitting it for the award.

"It's pretty artistic," he said. "Our architects ... worked on sort of the general look of that which came out pretty aesthetic it looks like."

Combining usability with the overall appearance of a project isn't always something civil engineers are able to do but was a large part of the pedestrian bridge, which made it more likely to win an award, Liles said.

"It's got a modern look to it. It's very pleasing but functional so I felt like it would win in some of the categories," he said. "It's just one of the projects where you're blending functionality and aesthetics."

The award, however, hasn't changed the opinions of several Jacksonville residents who have been opposed to the project from the beginning.

"(Jacksonville is) in need of additional police force, fireman, facilities to accommodate those and they're spending millions on Rails to Trails," said Eddie Quinn. "What is more important? Life and limb and property or ‘feel good'?"

Quinn, who has written numerous letters to the editor at The Daily News about the bridge said the color is off-putting and he has "yet to go under the bridge and see anyone on it."

"Rust-colored? Rust is going to protect it? I'm not 100 percent convinced of that," he said. "It might look nice, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me it looks like a load of dog poo."

Jacksonville resident Robert Hitch said he also disapproves of the bridge's appearance.

"I think it's an eyesore, personally," he said. "The illustrious city manager said we won't have to paint it or do any maintenance on it, so therefore it was great to have it that color."

Hitch has also been vocal in his opposition to the Rails to Trails project.

Bauer said that although the appearance of the bridge has been controversial, the community will appreciate it eventually.

"It's impossible to make everybody happy and sometimes it takes a while for people to get used to something new, and this definitely does use some newer treatments on it that will increase its cost-effectiveness over time," Bauer said. "I always thought it was a great design and not only is it, I think, an attractive design, it's also a very efficient, cost-effective design."

Award-winning or not, Quinn said his opinion remains unchanged.

"They might have won an award in their category," Quinn said, "but they didn't win zilch in mine."

Contact Jacksonville/Onslow government reporter Molly DeWitt at 910-219-8455 or mdewitt@freedomenc.com.