The Vida Shaw bridge joined a gothic revival jail, a Baptist church, an airport terminal complex and a Creole house among the diverse, historic sites recognized by the Louisiana Trust as it unveiled the 2007-2008 Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites of Louisiana on Sunday.

In addition to the bridge, the list includes Baton Rouge Magnet High School of Baton Rouge, Bridges-McKellar House of Shreveport, Badin-Roque of Natchez, Dark Store of Natchitoches and Beauregard Parish Jail of DeRidder. Rounding out the list are, Alexandria’s Thompson-Hargis Mansion, Shiloh Baptist Church and Cotton Brothers Bakery as well as Shushan Airport Terminal Complex of New Orleans.

The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation is a preservation partner with the National Trust for Historic Preservation — “the national historic preservation group,” said Kitty Henderson, executive director of the Historic Bridge Foundation of the United States, a national organization based in Austin, Texas.

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“Each year, each state announces its list of ‘most endangered’ properties — those properties they deem significant to the history of the state and that could be helped by statewide awareness,” Henderson said. “The Vida Shaw bridge is significant as an example of a rim-bearing swing-span bridge of the late 1930s and early 1940s.”

Henderson said the “rim-bearing” mechanism on which the bridge is pivoted was being phased out around the time the Vida Shaw bridge was built in favor of an easier-to-operate mechanical device.

“From an engineering standpoint, the bridge is a rare late example of a rim-bearing swing bridge. By 1940, this type of bridge construction was nearly obsolete,” Henderson said.

The Louisiana Trust began compiling the Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites list nine years ago in an effort to draw attention to neglected historic sites and endangered properties. Louisiana Trust Executive Director Stacy Jamieson said the list “helps focus critical public awareness to these historic properties in an endeavor to promote their preservation and protection.”

Touted as possibly the oldest single-lane, swing-span bridge in the state, the nearly 70-year-old structure crossing Bayou Teche between New Iberia and Loreauville has been the object of controversy since March, when a grass-roots effort was launched to save it.

The state Department of Transportation and Development twice delayed the call for bids for the bridge’s replacement before accepting proposals in July. However, the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that month issued a directive to the Louisiana Division of the Federal Highway Administration requesting that the replacement of the bridge again be delayed.

“A directive is not technically what you would call an injunction, but it’s a request that cannot be denied,” Henderson said at the time.

The advisory council’s directive requested that the replacement be delayed until the question of eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places be resolved.

“Historic significance” was one of the arguments posed by supporters of the “Save Vida Shaw” effort. However, repeated attempts to have the bridge included in a historical registry had failed and the Iberia Parish Council, faced with the possibility of losing the federal bridge replacement grant for the project, voted in mid-June to allow DOTD to call for the bids.

Those bids expired earlier this month.

The plan is to replace the bridge with a newer, bascule bridge once used as an alternate crossing over Delcambre Canal when the current lift-span structure was built there.

On a bascule bridge, each side of the bridge pivots, lifting and splitting the center to allow boat traffic to pass.

The replacement bridge has been in state storage since it was last used in the 1990s.

The current DOTD contract calls for the Vida Shaw bridge to be dismantled and placed in parish storage until such time as a location is found for it to be put into service for foot traffic.