Save this landmark

The bridges of Monroe County

ITS OFFICIAL name may be the Arkansas Department of Transportation, but there are times—like now—when its specialties would seem to be obfuscation and general mystification. For it’s still moving to tear down storied old structures in the dubious name of modernization. There is no good reason for this rush job, but a lot of bad rationalizations are being offered.

Today’s case in point would seem to be the announcement that the department has accepted a bid of $11.3 million from the Century Construction Group, Inc. of Tupelo, Miss., to destroy the old U.S. 79 bridge across the White River at Clarendon. Now you know where your money goes, fellow taxpayers. It goes to an out-of-state “construction” group that tears things down.

“At this time,” to quote the department’s Danny Straessle, the department’s spokesperson, “there is nothing preventing us from moving forward.” Or in this case, from moving backward—and demolishing a picturesque old bridge with a colorful history, maybe to one day make way for another nondescript stretch of roadway like any other in the country. One that’s scarcely worth a second glance as motorists speed on their way to the next city. “What was that place we just passed?” someone in the car might ask. “You got me,” the driver might reply, “It doesn’t matter. All these places look alike after a while.”

What, after all, makes a place memorable? It’s not necessarily some outward feature but its intrinsic value in the hearts and minds of those who have grown up with it and learned to cherish it over time. And time is the one feature our modernizers cannot serve up on demand. What makes an old bridge like this one at Clarendon valuable and versatile is the common memories it stirs and the common history it evokes. Unless people hold fast to that common heritage, the essence of a community may evaporate day by day and year after year.

Folks in Clarendon who hold on to a common history know something that the highwaymen in Little Rock seem completely unaware of. They value a structure not because it is distinctive in the eyes of the rest of the world but because it is theirs. And is so embedded in their personal history that they will balk at any ham-handed attempt to erase it from the map. Humble as it may be, it’s theirs.

But this 87-year-old bridge is distinctive in its own right. There’s good reason it’s listed in the National Register of Historic Places in America. To quote the lawsuit the locals have filed to save the bridge: “It is a symbol of American strength, craftsmanship, and freedom of expression. It is an engineering marvel and a core part of Arkansas history . . . The Bridge sits on or near the original road (Arkansas’ first military road) from Memphis to Little Rock. Signage on the Bridge reflects that the Historic Clarendon Bridge is on the route of the historic Trail of Tears.”

Why sacrifice all this historic and historical legacy? The new bridge is built. Let people drive over it. But why not keep the old bridge up for those of us who’d like an afternoon or 12 in the coming years to bird-watch and view one of the largest remaining bottomland hardwood forests in the nation? Before everything is planted in pine.

Let’s think about that before it’s too late and another part of the past is gone forever.