Community celebrates new Kingsland Bridge

From staff reports

Several hundred residents, officials and dignitaries showed their support for the expedited completion of the Kingsland Ranch-to-Market 2900 Bridge during a ceremony May 24 which featured live music, ceremonial walks across the span and presentations.

Speakers included U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, Texas Transportation Chairman J. Bruce Bugg, Jr. and Llano County officials.

During Cruz's speech, he suggested renaming the structure, “Perseverance Bridge” to recognize the challenge residents faced losing the main thoroughfare in the heart of the community.

The project – which took about seven months to complete – cost approximately $17.3 million.

Contractors for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) rebuilt the flood-swept bridge in record time. Williams told the crowd, the structure would now hold the record for “fastest built bridge” in the Guinness Book of World Records.

On Oct. 16, historic flooding from the Llano River washed away the 49-year-old bridge in Kingsland.

TxDOT launched into action, hired a contractor almost immediately and proceeded to rebuild the structure utilizing “modern engineering” far superior than its predecessor.

The new structure includes two 12-feet-wide travel lanes; two six-feet-wide shoulders; and a six-feet-wide pedestrian walkway. The “perched” center of the bridge is five-feet taller in the center “to allow floodwaters to go through.”

The event included a ribbon cutting followed by a ceremonial walk across the bridge which connects the Kingsland community to the Sunrise Beach area in Llano County.

Officials say the structure is open to traffic with periodic lane closures to accommodate some of the finishing touches needed to round out amenities of the span.

See more images in the Tuesday, May 28 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes. To offer a comment or news tip, email connie@highlandernews.com.