CR 509 bridge reopens for rush hour
Flood eliminates flow of traffic

One month after the October floods destroyed the old CR 509 wooden bridge, the first truck crossed a brand new blacktop bridge just as Jasper County Precinct 2 Commissioner Willie Stark predicted.

Area resident R.G. "Bill" Clark says he's been making that crossing 78 years. "Old Doc McRight that delivered me Feb. 29, 1928 came across that creek from Kirbyville, and I've been crossing it ever since."

For almost a month, he and wife Maxine had to go the long way around through Magnolia Springs,

but he never doubted Stark would get the bridge back in service quickly.

"I used to work with Willie's dad and grandfather," Clark said.

Stark used emergency funds voted by commissioners' court to get new concrete poured and the single lane bridge completed before the holidays. Trustees assisted with the work.

Clark drove his green pickup to the middle of the bridge to pose for a picture as Stark walked up with the "bridge closed" sign he had just pulled up.

Sure enough, it only took five minutes for more trucks to start lining up, a regular rush hour traffic jam on County Road 509 on Friday afternoon, Nov. 17.

TRAFFIC BEGINS TO flow over the FM 509 bridge after Jasper County Precinct 3 Commissioner Willie Stark, pictured left, reopened the bridge.