Newspaper Articles

The celebrated bridge over Twelvepole Creek at Wayne has been closed for repairs, forcing traffic to use the old county farm road as a detour.

The bridge will be completely re-floored and hardtopped, which will eliminate the noise that drew the attention of TV newscaster David Brinkley when he visited Wayne several days ago. Brinkley made a recording of the sound of cars crossing the bridge which he termed "rickety" and the "noisiest anywhere". This was telecast on the Huntley-Brinkley news program over a national network.

The bridge was closed Monday and the old flooring has already been ripped away by state road commission workmen, leaving the steel framework exposed.

Before new flooring is laid, the bridge will be cleaned by sand-blasting and will be repainted. It estimated the work will require two or three weeks to complete.

To make the rock-based detour more bearable for motorists, state road commission trucks were used to apply a coating of calcium chloride on the old county farm road to control the dust.

Surface boards on the bridge had worked loose, setting up a chatter under the impact of traffic that could be heard a mile away.

The state road commission on Monday announced two special maintenance projects on primary roads in Wayne County. One was the repair of the bridge. The other project will be resurfacing of 9.50 miles of State Route 75 from Kenova to Lavalette.

U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, will make a return visit to Wayne County this Friday.

He will deliver a sidewalk address in front of the Kenova city hall at 3:30 p.m. His supporters hope that a large crowd will be on hand to hear and greet the presidential candidate.

His opponent in the primary next Tuesday, U. S. Senator Hubert Humphrey, addressed a large crowd at Camden Park Tuesday night. Sen. Humphrey was scheduled to visit Wayne this Friday but definite arrangements had not been announced by his headquarters up to press time Thursday. Sen. Humphrey was introduced by Atty. M. J. Ferguson of Wayne at the Camden Park rally, which was attended by an estimated crowd of 10,000, including many children who were given free ride tickets.