New Bridge Solves An Old Problem

The recent opening of the new Anderson Street Bridge over the railroad has caused me to remember that Bristol has had problems with railroad crossings since near the beginning of her existence.
When Joseph Anderson had the original Bristol Tennessee/Virginia laid out in 1852, all of Main Street (now State Street) was placed within the Tennessee boundary because of a crossing problem. 
The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad would not allow the main street of the new town to cross its tracks. It may come as a surprise that during the first five years or so of Bristol’s development, there was no Main Street crossing.
Even though development was taking place in both Bristol, Va. and Bristol, Tenn. east of the tracks, those wishing to cross to that part of the town by horse-drawn vehicles or on horseback had to go out of the way to a rather bumpy crossing near the northern end of the depot lot, or to a similar crossing at the end of present Olive Street.
It was not until 1858 that a Main Street crossing was made, all in Tennessee, and at a cost of $465.80.
The town asked the railroad to bear this expense, but they flatly refused to do so. Even though that crossing was made, it was dangerous and troublesome.
Then, as now, stopped trains often blocked traffic, sometimes for long periods of time. From the time of the opening of that particular crossing, the situation has been lamented and solutions sought.
Strangely, the first overhead crossing of the railroad was not made at the main thoroughfare but at Mary Street, some distance up the tracks.
This bridge was erected in the 1870s. Of course, it was a far cry from the present bridge there.
It was one lane, somewhat lower than the present bridge and was of all wood construction. (Somewhere here at Pleasant Hill there exists an itemized cost list of each component necessary to build that bridge.)
Nevertheless, it served long and well. It was well known that before the bridge was built, the Mary Street crossing was very dangerous and a bridge over the tracks had been talked about for some time.
It took a real tragedy to turn talk into work. One cold, snowy day, a mother and her child were killed there while crossing the tracks on horseback, and the first Mary Street Bridge was erected soon thereafter.
At various times after the Main Street crossing was opened, talk of bridging over or tunneling under the railroad was frequently heard. However, no real effort was made to do so.
Soon after the beginning of the 20th century, the problem had become much worse.
At that time, Bristol had about 20 passenger trains per day, along with numerous freights, thus the crossing was frequently blocked, and street traffic had become much heavier, both with animal-drawn and motorized vehicles.
In 1907, the Norfolk and Western Railroad proposed enlarging the Beaver Creek culvert for an underground passage. This culvert, erected soon after the railroad came to Bristol, still serves the purpose of channeling water but was never utilized in any other capacity.
Both railroads (the N&W and the Southern) finally agreed that the real solution was to put a tunnel under the railroad crossing.
If either a tunnel or a bridge was to be constructed, it would have to begin about 5th Street, which would have created an obstruction to some degree for business houses on both sides of Main Street (now State).
Some of those business houses were owned by some of the most prominent and successful merchants in the town. It was largely their opposition that prevented this from ever being done.
But, at various times on through the century, pressure arose again and again for the situation to be rectified. Even after I came to Bristol 55 years ago, I can recall several times when talk was strong about solving this crossing problem. One thing I noticed during those times was that a tunnel was the most favored solution.
The town began pleading for a mechanized gate protecting the crossing early in the century, but it was not until 1916 that a gatehouse was finally erected.
This gatehouse was controlled for many years by various operators who worked 12-hour shifts.
The situation was improved again years later when automatic gates were installed.
But as most Bristolians know, not much else was done to improve this crossing problem throughout the rest of the century.
Now, with the completion of the new Anderson Street Bridge, we have that longsought solution to a most vexing problem.

BUD PHILLIPS is a local historian and author. He can be reached at (276) 466-6435.