McMullen: Washington bridge is more than mere span

People can get nostalgic about bridges sometimes.

The densely populated country that surrounds Sedalia used to be lousy with bridges. There was a bridge solution to every problem that might potentially impede movement, and a creek of any size was justification enough to build one.

But now many of them have been swept away into the creeks of history and replaced with the suggestion that your car can probably handle it, as long as the water isn’t too high. And if the water is too high, then you’ve got to find a crossing where that’s not the case.

Some of the bridges were rickety, and some of them were haunted, and some of them were covered and fell victim to still unnamed arsonists.

People like to talk about the fact that they know who set fire to a bridge, but they also like to follow that revelation up with the assurance that they will never tell. What’s the statute of limitations on bridge arson?

My favorite bridge tale that the old folks tell is the one about the bridge they all called “Jesus Saves” because of the graffiti that marked it. The landmark was a popular hangout on the back roads of Pettis County, and it ultimately fell under the weight of an El Camino loaded down with beer kegs.

But it’s getting harder to stumble upon the classic rural bridge. They used to be a welcome break from the standard tree-and-field scenery, but now they are an endangered species.

There’s a strange website called Bridgehunter.com that maintains an online list of current and former bridges in Missouri and other states. When you search for “Pettis County,” many of the bridges have summaries that start with the word “lost” and end with the decidedly blunt “no longer exists.”

From “bedstead pony truss” bridges to “deck plate girder” bridges — bridgehunter has the extensive records that drive bridge fans wild.

And there’s one more bridge that could join their extensive list of “lost” bridges — The Washington Avenue bridge, the gateway to Sedalia’s north side, is in a state of serious disrepair and is not open to traffic.

There was a caller in the most recent edition of Sedline that claimed to live in that part of Sedalia that lies on the other side of the tracks and asked the people of Sedalia to fix up the bridge so it can have at least one more usable run.

I’ve gotten the impression that downtown Sedalia bridge isn’t just a means of getting over a seemingly endless train, but it represents an identity. It’s the northside bridge, and northside residents find more value in it than mere utility. It seems to conjure feelings of nostalgia, like bridges tend to do.

And I think it would be great to restore it to its former glory, but the local governments don’t essentially have the funds to do that without breaking into the piggy bank that is their surplus.

I think we should see if Dolgencorp (the parent company of Dollar General) might be willing to foot some of the bill for fixing up the Washington Avenue bridge.

I think we all want to see this big Dollar General that they’re building on the north side to be wildly successful, but I think business might suffer a little if the main thoroughfare is unusable. Sure, the core customer base is going to be made up of people who already live on that side of the bridge, but I think a sufficiently grand Dollar General will draw people from all over Sedalia. And they will be less likely to make that journey if they think they might have to wait for the train.

Besides, it’s so perfect: Washington is on the dollar bill, and he was one of America’s most famous generals. And it would look great for public relations and raise brand loyalty. You could run a yellow ribbon across the entrance to the bridge, cut it with an oversized pair of scissors and talk about Dollar General’s “commitment to the communities that it serves” and all that.

In any case, I think the Washington Avenue bridge will be saved, eventually. It serves as both the literal and spiritual link between the parts of Sedalia that lie on opposite sides of the tracks, and for that reason, I don’t think we should continue to let it deteriorate.