RFP Staff
♦ According to sources within City Hall, the Shober Bridge will be demolished at some point in the not to distant future and replaced by a modern all steel bridge on Ellis Street. The new steel span will be built to support large vehicles including emergency vehicles, traveling up Ellis Street on their way to the hospital. The new Ellis Street bridge will also meet the Norfolk Southern railroad’s elevation specifications for tall container rail traffic. The exact timetable for the demolition of the Shober Bridge, built in the 30′s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is not yet set.
The Shober Bridge’s demise was sped up earlier this week by the land swap acquisition of the Rowan-Salisbury School System’s Ellis Street Administration property.
The present Shober Bridge, an inexact replica of the original Ellis Street Bridge that General Stoneman’s troops traveled over during the War between the States, was not constructed in the original Ellis Street Bridge’s footprint. The original Ellis Street Bridge was many yards from the site of the present bridge. The Shober’s only historic claims are its construction during the depression era by the Civilian Conservation Corps and that five hoboes perished in the early 30′s by having their skulls crushed while standing atop boxcars passing under the bridge.
For a time around 2010-2011 there was a “Save the Shober” movement championed in the Salisbury’s Historic district to save the decrepit structure from demolition. The “Save the Shober” push was allegedly motivated by neighbors on either side of the bridge desiring to maintain property values, slow traffic on Ellis, and block having their properties suffer incursions by a steel bridge’s larger footprint. The “Save the Shober” movement was witnessed throughout the historic district with small white signs proclaiming “Save the Shober”. The Norfolk Southern Railroad has other ideas important to their rail traffic and Salisbury’s future as a potential warehouse and distribution center. The Norfolk Southern has the final say about bridges over their properties.
The City of Salisbury performed numerous expensive cosmetic repairs to the decrepit bridge’s road surface, railings, and pedestrian walkways. The depression era bridge still can not safely support large truck traffic and the Shober’s wooden supports show serious deterioration. Its only a matter of time before the Shober faced condemnation.
The Shober Bridge NIMBYs are in way over their heads in the one, facing interests with a deep reach into city hall and NCDOT.
According to anonymous sources in City Hall and in the real estate community, the Shober’s immediate neighbors “may” be generously compensated with offers of parcels of land upon which to “resettle” their homes.
Time marches on. The Norfolk Southern is deep-pocketed and controls what goes over their tracks. The safety of the entire community is at stake. A safe bridge, open to faster traffic, is a requirement especially with emergency vehicles in mind.
