Champion the bridge

The award-winning HBO series Big Little Lies opens each episode with a wide shot of a graceful bridge: the Bixby Canyon Bridge in Monterey, Calif., where the series is filmed. It always reminds me of another bridge much closer to home: the Big White River Bridge at Clarendon, gateway to the Lower White River bottomlands.

Both bridges were built in 1931. Both represent the era’s apex of design and materials, and were built to last. One bridge is celebrated, photographed, visited and filmed, championed by the state of California. The other is near Arkansas’ capital city, yet unable to be championed due to a lack of compromise by the powers-that-be. Add one more voice to the chorus asking: Please let the bridge stand, re-purposed as a recreational pedestrian/cycling gateway to the Delta Trail. Please let her stand. As I write this, a re-assessment of the situation has postponed yet another threatened demolition of this iconic structure. Perhaps there is yet time for sanity to prevail.

The bridge at Clarendon forms the centerpiece of the documentary filmin-progress based on my book Daughter of the White River. This bridge marks the site of the River People’s once-thriving network of houseboat communities, and the birthplace of river girl Helen Ruth Spence, Arkansas folk hero and subject of the book and film. It was built during her brief lifetime.

The Delta has been subjected to a century of hardship. Clarendon’s bridge, originally constructed (during the Great Depression, no less) on Arkansas land, remains well-suited and well-situated to contribute to the state’s economy. Re-purposing the bridge makes more economic sense than paying an exorbitant amount to waste a national historic landmark. On a deeper level, re-purposing this bridge allows the surrounding community to come together, celebrate, photograph, visit, film and champion a uniquely majestic example of American engineering, design and function.

DENISE W. PARKINSON Hot Springs