Two tour buses passing over the historic Beaver Bridge on the weekend of Oct. 13-14 caused concern when a video posted to YouTube showed the bridge bending considerably under the weight of one bus, estimated to weigh more than twice as much as the posted weight limit of ten tons. The video received more than 200,000 views as of Oct. 21.
A bridge maintenance crew started scheduled maintenance on Oct.1, and concluded Oct. 16. That crew asked that bridge engineers do an inspection after the buses crossed, which closed the bridge until Oct. 18. Arkansas Dept. of Transportation Public Information Officer Danny Straessle said inspection revealed no major damage.
“This suspension bridge constructed in 1949 did what it was supposed to do,” Straessle said. “The cables come off the pylons that hold the bridge and as traffic goes over it, and those cables are able to stretch and absorb motion of the vehicles and distribute the weight. You don’t want a bridge to be rigid and not move because it would pretty much fall apart. The movement you see when the bus is driving over it is what freaks people out.
“That movement is called deflection. All bridges move to absorb the weight of vehicles. Usually you don’t feel it in a passenger car. If you had a pickup truck loaded with firewood, you would still have all kinds of movement on it. The movement of the bridge wasn’t as concerning to us as watching a vehicle that weighed more than ten tons crossing a weight-restricted bridge.
“We did find something, a hanger bar that was cracked, but that may have been there for a while or it may have been exacerbated by the buses,” he said. “We can’t say with certainty.”
Straessle said that officers with the Arkansas State Police have to personally witness a violation in order to take law enforcement action.
“I don’t think we will be able to take action because of what we saw in the video,” Straessle said. “If we find out who the drivers were, we will let them know the danger they put the bridge in and the danger to their passengers. The state police will probably step up patrols of the area. I would say this is probably not the first time overweight vehicles have crossed over the bridge. Over the years we have heard all kinds of stories about vehicles that exceeded the weight restriction crossing the bridge. All we can do is put up the signs, and it is incumbent on commercial drivers to observe and respect those weight limitations. They know how much their vehicles weigh or could weigh. Failing to observe weight limits is something drivers could lose their Commercial Driver’s License over or be fined for.”
The one-lane bridge is clearly marked with the ten-ton weight limit. ArDOT’s best estimate was the buses weighed 25 to 27 tons. Factors that are unknown include if the buses were loaded with passengers and luggage.
Major Deputy George Frye of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said their investigation determined who owned the buses and who the drivers were, and that information has been turned over to the state. Since it is an active investigation, the name of the company and the drivers has not been released.
“While there are only three businesses in Beaver, our residents depend on being able to cross the bridge to go to and from work, and go shopping in Eureka or at Holiday Island,” Beaver Mayor Ann Shoffit said. “We depend on deliveries from UPS and FedEx. We need the bridge so the ambulance can get to Beaver. Beaver only has two members of the Holiday Island Fire Department, and while we have three fire trucks in Beaver, the firemen and first responders need the bridge to respond.”
Shoffit said the town is not completely cut off when the bridge is closed, but it is an inconvenience to go the long way to town.
Local resident Steve Campbell said there are a lot of overweight vehicles crossing that bridge.
“This particular stretch of 187 through Beaver is a shortcut between Highways 62 and 23 to Eureka Springs,” Campbell said. “They stream down here and have to yield to oncoming traffic before crossing the bridge. They get bumper-to-bumper, so you get a bunch of cars and trucks crossing the bridge at the same time.
“It is on the National Register of Historic Places so it can’t be torn down and rebuilt,” he said. “If they had to build a new bridge with an on ramp and off ramp, it would require half the town of Beaver to be condemned.”