Work is set to begin Thursday to bring down a damaged railroad trestle that was to be part of the Ecusta Trail near Brevard.
Conserving Carolina received a $120,000 grant from the state to tear down the bridge over the Davidson River after it was damaged by flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred in 2021 and then hit by a box truck.
Davidson River Road has been closed where it passes underneath the trestle since that accident. Plans call for the trestle work to be completed within a month. Plans also call for a new bridge to be built as part of the Ecusta Trail project.
EcustaRails2Trail LLC, a subsidiary of the Conserving Carolina land trust, purchased the abandoned rail corridor from Blue Ridge Southern Railroad in 2021 with plans to use the trestle as part of the 19.4 mile Ecusta Trail connecting Hendersonville and Brevard.
“This (demolition) project was awarded the grant funding because the trestle poses a potential threat to the road bridge on Old Hendersonville Highway immediately downstream if it were to come away completely in a future storm event. That is, of course, in addition to the hazard it poses on Davidson River Road,” Rebekah Robinson, assistant director for programs at Conserving Carolina, said in a news release. “All of the trestle structure will be removed except for the masonry abutments on either side of the river in the hopes that they can be used again when the bridge is rebuilt for the Ecusta Trail.”
Robinson said the project will also repair pavement on Davidson River Road necessary after the trestle’s 9-foot-high upright supports are removed from the roadway. Rails and other metals from the structure will be recycled with additional materials later being offered for donation to the Cradle of Forestry for reuse in its logging trail display.