Hank Dewald, Herald Staff Writer

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ROANOKE RAPIDS —  A new pedestrian bridge should make the area below the Roanoke Rapids Dam an even more popular fishing hole.

The bridge being funded by Dominion Resources Inc., will cross the tailrace canal 880 feet below the dam. While the bridge will be very close to the Roanoke Canal Trail, it is not considered a part of the trail at this time, according to Roanoke Rapids Parks and Recreation Director Chris Wicker.

The footbridge was actually called for and included in the most recent relicensing of the Roanoke Rapids Dam by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The footbridge was part of a negotiated deal between Dominion and the N.C. Wildlife Commission. Dominion originally planned to have the project completed by the first of the year, but due to the location of the bridge, small problems arose.

The bridge will allow access by pedestrians to the north side of the tailrace canal, which previously had no access. Many local residents, mostly high school-aged children had either swum across or used dangerous cables to cross the canal in the past. The water can be very treacherous when the dam is generating electricity.

According to Bryant Brooks, Dominion Power senior manager of external affairs, Dominion’s engineers came up with “a good, safe concept that we thought would be a nice facility to give the public good access to that area.”

Dominion selected Contech Construction Products Inc., a company that specializes in bridge solutions, to build the 110-foot long bridge.

The footbridge will be a continuous steel span from bank to bank with no in-water structures. It will be built off-site and put into place by a large crane.

One side of the bridge will be located in the city of Roanoke Rapids, while the other is in Northampton County. The city has no flood plain issues at their location, but Northampton County does.

According to Northampton County Zoning Director William Flynn, there are some issues for the county that involve the National Flood Insurance Program. Flynn said the pre-construction studies done by Dominion were done using maps and information that were not current.

Flynn said there will have to be additional studies done before his office can sign off on the project. He said he believes those studies are now in progress. “We had no choice in the matter,” said Flynn. “If we let them (Dominion) get by without doing the proper studies, we would have trouble later on down the road when others were required to do them.”

The actual bridge plans have been approved by both the city and the county, but no permits have been issued. Brooks is optimistic the bridge will be in place by March of 2009.

Wicker said many people will probably use the Roanoke Canal Trail to access the bridge, but there are no plans to actually tie the two together.

“I think it is going to be an outstanding addition to the recreation fishing opportunities in the area. The tailrace canal is a unique fishing area and Dominion is really active in trying to improve community access to that area,” said Wicker. He said the company is also looking into improving access to the area from Roanoke Ave.

“We’re looking forward to having a really nice bridge that will allow the public to enjoy an area they previously could not,” said Brooks yesterday. “We told these folks (Contech) what we were after, what we thought the public would want and they came up with a really nice design. It is going to be really nice.”