A historic bridge over the Meherrin River in Brunswick County, Virginia is getting a federally funded facelift, with $774,172 flowing to the rural Southside county through the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant program.
The Route 715 crossing is one of those rural bridges that rarely makes headlines but matters enormously to the people who depend on it. Brunswick County has roughly 15,500 residents and a limited tax base, making it heavily reliant on state and federal dollars to maintain infrastructure. For communities on either side of the Meherrin River, this bridge may be the only nearby crossing, losing it to deterioration would mean significant detours on roads without good alternatives.
The bridge carries an additional layer of complexity: it is designated as a historic structure under VDOT's Bridge Management Plan, which means federal preservation law shapes how the work can proceed. Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, federally funded projects affecting historic structures must account for their preservation. That typically rules out demolition and replacement in favor of rehabilitation, which can be more intricate and costly but keeps the original structure intact.
That tradeoff reflects a broader national challenge. More than 46,000 bridges across the country are considered structurally deficient, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave U.S. bridges a C grade in its 2021 Infrastructure Report Card. Virginia alone has more than 21,000 bridges, and rural crossings like this one often fall to the back of the line because they carry lighter traffic, even when they serve as lifelines for agricultural communities, school buses, and emergency vehicles.
The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law injected new money into programs like the Surface Transportation Block Grant to help states chip away at that backlog. This project appears to be part of Virginia's effort to work through its rural bridge inventory before structures reach the point of closure.
Design and environmental review for the Route 715 bridge are already complete, and the funding covers construction. With the federal award now in place, work can move toward breaking ground.
