Ruling means bridge can get into National Register

BY STEVE BANDY, THE DAILY IBERIAN

The National Register of Historic Places has ruled that the Vida Shaw Bridge is eligible for inclusion in the National Register, overriding an earlier opinion by the State Historic Preservation Office that it is not.

Advertisement

The ruling was announced late last month by Janet Mathews, the Keeper of the National Registry, which is maintained by the U.S. Department of Interior.

Mathews determined that the documentation provided demonstrates that the bridge is locally significant for its engineering design.

“The bridge is one of a small number of high-steel swing-span bridges that survive in Louisiana,” she said in her ruling. “It features a rim-bearing pivot mechanism and represents an important example of bridge design from the World War II era.”

Announcement of the ruling was well-received by members of the “Save Vida Bridge” group, a grassroots organization formed earlier this year.

“We’re very pleased with the designation by the Keeper,” said Wayne Elridge, a founding member of the group. “We’ve always said that Vida Shaw bridge has historic significance to this area and now that significance will have to be taken into account before anything is done to it.”

Because the bridge has been determined eligible for the National Register, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of any activities and programs involving the property, said Kitty Henderson, executive director of the Historic Bridge Foundation, a national organization based in Austin, Texas.

“This is done through what is known as the Section 106 process, a federal review process designed to ensure that historic properties are considered during federal project planning and execution,” Henderson said.

The President’s Advisory council on Historic Preservation administers the review process at the federal level.

“The Section 106 process was created because of public concern that so many of our nation’s historic properties were not receiving adequate attention, and Congress recognized that legislation was needed to protect historic properties that were being harmed by federal activities,” Henderson explained. “Thus, the National Historic Preservation Act requires every federal agency to take into account how each project could affect historic properties and to prevent arbitrary destruction of historic resources with federal funds.”

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 ordering that the replacement of the bridge again be delayed.

The plan was 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. That bridge has been in storage since it was removed in the 1990s.

Members of the Iberia Parish Council met with DOTD personnel last week to discuss options, said Parish Councilman Glenn Romero, who represents that area between New Iberia and Loreauville.

“We have to look for an alternative site (for the bascule bridge) and get prices and everything,” said Romero. “If it’s not feasible to move that site, then we have to find a place to move this (Vida Shaw) bridge with the guarantee that it will be preserved.”

But members of the “Save Vida Bridge” group say moving the structure would defeat the purpose.

“If you move it away from here, it loses its historic significance,” said Danny “Sonny” David Jr., who lives adjacent to the bridge, which is currently locked in the open-to-marine-traffic position.

“It would be like moving Evangeline’s grave,” Chris Burton said. “If you do that, it destroys the historic significance.”

A public hearing must be held before any action can be taken with regard to the Vida Shaw bridge.

Romero added that the state will not put up any more than $4.2 million — the amount of the last bid — for either of these projects. If it would cost more, he said the paris could refuse all bids.

Calls for comment from Bill Fontenot, Acadiana district administrator, DOTD, were not returned.

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

“Historic bridges are important links to our past,” Henderson said. “They tell the story of the engineers and craftsmen who built them, as well as the development of the communities they serve. Each bridge is enormously important to our understanding of who we are as a nation and as a people.

“The recognition of the Vida Shaw Bridge as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places says that the Vida Shaw is a treasure that should be preserved and recognized — not just as a way to cross the bayou, but also as a part of the heart and soul of the community. It is important to embrace this history, to support it and promote it as a legacy for the constituents of parish.

“By rehabilitating the bridge in its original context, its story, the story of the Vida Sugar Mill and cane production in general, can be interpreted and provide a tourist destination that will bring significant economic resources to the parish.”