Bridge crew, maintenance will cost city estimated $135,000 a year

Once the new Alfred Cunningham Bridge opens, it will require a crew to operate the controls for the 100-foot vertical-rise sections that allow boat traffic between the Trent and Neuse rivers.

The city of New Bern will assume ownership of the new $40 million bridge when work is completed on the nearby Broad Street project.

The Broad Street work, which makes that roadway a two-lane street with a median and side parking, is nearing completion, said Danny Meadows, interim city manager.

Some paving work remains and then the utilities will be put underground.

“It will probably be April or May before all that is complete,” Meadows said.

The bridge is scheduled for completion late this month.

“We will open the bridge when it is ready,” he said. “The day the bridge is ready to function, it’s going to function.”

Meadows said a combination of contract, state or city workers will initially operate the bridge.

Once the Broad Street work is complete, the city will accept ownership, which includes operations and maintenance.

He said the city would hire a contract crew — known as bridge tenders — to man the controls for opening and closing the bridge for passing boats. A five-person crew will rotate shifts operating the bridge because the structure is open 24 hours a day.

Meadows estimates it will take about $135,000 annually for the operations crew and maintenance.

Bridge tenders have been a part of New Bern’s waterfront community for more than half a century. Bridge tenders operated the old John Lawson swing bridge across the Neuse River to Bridgeton and the Cunningham swing bridge that was closed in 2007 to make way for the new bascule structure across the Trent River.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.