Saline County officials, past and present, met with dozens of residents and others Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking on the final leg of a yearslong effort to restore a historic bridge.
Once the Old River Bridge project is complete it will be the oldest span in Arkansas in its original location, according to Saline County Judge Matt Brumley. Officials said restoring the bridge will provide a tremendous recreational and economic boon to the county and those who live and work there, serving as a "centerpiece" of a roughly 60.4-mile cycling and pedestrian corridor called the Southwest Trail.
Addressing the crowd as the ceremony began, Brumley described the breadth of people who had been involved with the bridge in one form or another since it was first constructed.
"We've got about 200 years worth of people to thank," he said.
The span, featured in the 1996 film "Sling Blade" starring Hot Springs native Billy Bob Thornton, was built in 1891 to provide settlers safe passage over the Saline River and stretched across 260 feet, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. It was decommissioned after a truck carrying concrete blocks severely damaged it in 1974.
Discussions about restoring the bridge began in 2008, led by then-Benton Mayor Lynn Moore.
Then-Saline County Judge Jeff Arey recalled that at the time, conversations were already under way about developing a recreational trail from Little Rock to Hot Springs -- a project that would eventually become the Southwest Trail. One of the big questions at the time, though, was where the corridor would cross the Saline River.
It became obvious that the place to do that was where the Old River Bridge originally stood, he said.
Benton Mayor Tom Farmer said he recalled Moore spending "a lot of time" in his office, trying to convince him of the bridge's worth. He said Moore believed the project would benefit those beyond his own generation.
"Lynn Moore had a vision for this bridge," he said.
At the time, though, a feasibility study suggested the project wasn't worth pursuing, according to Lynn Moore's son, Brad Moore. He said the report suggested that restoring the bridge would be "too expensive," and that it was too old and dilapidated to make for a recommended project. Instead, the study suggested the span be torn down.
However, such groups as The Saline Crossing Regional Park and Recreational Area, Inc., led by Lynn Moore, continued to press for its restoration. Finally, in 2018, it was dismantled and sent to Michigan for refurbishment.
The cost to remove the bridge was about $378,000, while the entire project will cost about $4 million, according to Brumley. Arey was able to get federal funds through transportation grants to pay a large portion of the cost and county officials have been able to follow similar strategies to help cover the cost of transporting the bridge to and from the Upper Midwest.
Upon its return to Central Arkansas, the bridge's various parts were being held by the county's road department to await the start of construction.
During his speech at the ceremony, Farmer connected the bridge's history with officials' hopes for what's to come as progress continues on the Southwest Trail.
"It has been a gateway for the past," Farmer said. "Now, it's a gateway for the future."
Dewayne Wood, 76, said he often comes to the Saline River for floating and fishing but was surprised at the number of people who attended the event.
"It's a bigger crowd than I expected," he said.
Wood, a resident of the county, said he believes the project to restore the bridge will also improve safety and quality of life for those in the area. While he used to avoid parking his truck in the area for fear that it get broken into, he said he plans to visit the bridge once it's complete.
Becky Winslow, 68, of Benton, said she also believes the effort will improve the surrounding area and that the bridge traffic "will help keep it that way." Though the project will take time to complete, Winslow said she and her husband will take advantage of the span.
"We're just excited to be able to hike across," she said.