By Jean Braithwaite
tribune correspondent

BAYARD — The recently released Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for highway projects from the present until 2014 held somewhat of a surprise for the community of Bayard.
The listing by counties of the region placed the Bayard Truss Bridge on two of the line items, including design and construction for replacement.
Steve Durst, mayor of the small Grant County community, stated that the town has been waiting over 17 years to see some type of action to be taken on the bridge renewal.
After receiving the STIP, Durst contacted Gary Klavuhn, district bridge inspector at the Burlington office of the Department of Highways, to seek information about the Bayard Bridge project.
According to Durst, the message from Klavuhn was, “Yes, the new bridge is coming.”
Because the bridge crosses the North Branch of the Potomac River into Maryland, Durst cited that the “holdup for the replacement structure is obtaining a right-of-way on the Maryland side.”
Explaining that the six feet of private property is needed for the expanded two-lane concrete bridge; Durst stated that the property owner was challenging the Garrett County Commission, not wanting to give up any part of his property.
Durst mentioned that another land owner on the opposite side of the bridge
was willing to talk with officials about offering an area of his property for the bigger bridge.
“We are waiting for Garrett County to get their ducks all in a row,” Durst said, hoping that will happen soon and construction could then begin.
Recalling the closing of the Bayard Bridge, Durst pointed out that several “so called non-essential” bridges along the North Branch were shut down during 1988, including Dobbin and Henry.
One bridge at Wilson was built during this time to accommodate truck traffic from coal companies across the river to Maryland.
Hearing rumors around the community, Durst contacted the chief bridge engineer at Burlington, and the conformation was that the bridge in Bayard would be closed.
“This was upsetting.” Durst said. “Something so altering to our community and there was no opportunity for input from any residents.”
On July 8, 1988, a closed sign was placed on the bridge, and, “our business community was killed,” Durst stated.
Durst said that before the closing, residents from Maryland would travel across the bridge to mostly shop for food supplies.
Now, with a barrier across the bridge, foot traffic is still possible, but Maryland residents would have to travel a distance of seven miles by vehicle on the Wilson-Corona Road to reach Bayard.
Since the date of the closing through 1991, Durst began to enlist help from the State office of the Department of Highways, with a great amount of assistance from the late Ron Kuhn.
Kuhn, a former resident of Bayard, was according to Durst instrumental in “nagging state officials” to push the bridge project along.
In the early 1990s, Fred Van Kirk, from the Charleston highways office, promised a bridge to Bayard residents.
“We are still waiting,” Durst stated.
In 2007, the sum of $400,000 was spent by the State Highways Department to repair the railroad crossing that leads to the Bayard Bridge.
Presently the estimated cost for the design and construction of the bridge is $3 million.