Catching up: Texas Beach bridge on pace for completion this year
Name: The Texas Beach bridge
Why you know it: The bridge, which spans two active train tracks, is the only legal way for people to reach a beloved stretch of the James River known as Texas Beach. But in September 2022, officials shut it down after finding severe structural damage. Ever since, the city has been trying to rebuild it and reopen access to the riverfront.
Sarah Vogelsong
What's happening now
Tamara Jenkins, a spokesperson for Richmond’s Parks and Recreation Department, said the project is still on track to be done by the end of 2026. Once repairs are completed and inspected, the bridge will be reopened to the public.
“There haven’t been any delays at this time,” she said in an email to The Richmonder. “With a project this complex there are multiple inspections and procedural steps to get it to completion … but at this time the project is still on schedule.”
Jenkins said the foundations of the bridge’s north and south towers have been poured, with reinforcements and structural repairs in progress.
Besides standard factors that can slow down construction like weather and the time it can take to acquire needed materials, the need to coordinate the repairs with CSX has made the project particularly complicated.
Because the two tracks the railroad company owns beneath the bridge are active, different stages of the work have to be timed carefully to avoid any impacts to rail traffic, and sometimes special flaggers are necessary.
When completed, Parks and Rec officials have said the bridge should look very similar to the original structure built in 1978 — but without any of the problems that caused it to be shut down several years ago.
Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org
