A walk through the woods around Springfield’s Greenspring community was a dangerous trek for residents who attempted to cross a stream when the water level was high.
"Under normal circumstances, it's not bad. But after every rain, it becomes slick," said Greenspring resident Gerry Green of the stream, a branch of Calamo Creek that crosses a walking trail and poses a hazard to many of the residents who walk there.
The Fairfax County Park Authority, which owns the trail, and Greenspring’s staff, solved that problem, constructing a 30-foot long pedestrian bridge to cross over the stream, and now Greenspring residents have gotten their wish to walk in safety through the woods around the property of the Erickson-owned retirement community for seniors.
"It’s opened it up to a lot of people. There’s a lot of people who walk here, not just Greenspring residents, there’s kids on bikes, high school running teams, people with dogs," said John Kurt, a Greenspring resident. The Westhampton housing community backs up to portions of the trail, and also has entryways onto the trail.
Greenspring residents, headed by Green, made their voices heard in the fall of 2003, after one particularly nasty spill crossing the stream left a female Greenspring resident with a chipped tooth, a split lip and bruises. She had tumbled from one of the 18-inch high pillars that served as the primary stream crossing before the bridge was constructed.
"When I saw a couple of these accidents, I asked people why there isn't a little pedestrian bridge?" said Green, who moved to Greenspring from Falls Church with his wife Bernice in 2001.
Green contacted Greenspring administration, and then Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee).
"Nobody said no, so I was gaining confidence," said Green.
Greenspring Facilities Manager Tom Channon said the staff was aware of the problem crossing the stream, but the problem was finding the money necessary to install the bridge.
"Almost from the beginning of the time the trail was completed, we would have residents call and say there’s a spot on the trial where water runs and it’s hard to get across," he said.
So Greenspring and Fairfax County struck a deal. The county, through various sources, paid the $12,000 cost of the fiber-reinforced plastic bridge, and Greenspring installed it, paying for the installation and labor costs.
"We don’t have any money other than what the residents give us. When we’re going to use everybody’s money we like to make sure it’s a good impact," said Channon, who said Greenspring’s administration received input from Greenspring’s Resident Advisory Council in approving the bridge. Site work began in late March on the area, and the bridge arrived in pieces on a flatbed truck from Pennsylvania on Tuesday, April 5. Greenspring staff and even some residents pitched in to piece the bridge together, and by the end of April 6, the bridge was complete. Former Greenspring executive director Lonny Blessing, along with Kauffman, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connelly (D-At-large), and others were at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 12.
"This new bridge is a tribute to all the various people of both Westhampton community and Greenspring Village that have worked to make it happen," said Kauffman at the dedication ceremony.
The new bridge is 6 feet wide, 28 feet long, with a wood surface on top of the fiber-reinforced plastic.
"It’s inexpensive, extremely durable, light-weight," said Channon.
Greenspring’s residents have already taken advantage of the new bridge. The campus has a regular walking club, which meets six days a week to walk a three-mile loop on the trail, starting from Greenspring’s Town Centre building. Sometimes, the group deviates from this course, and walks a four-mile trip to Springfield Plaza.
"We just walk, no meetings, no minutes," said Kurt, who heads up the group, which draws between seven and 10 members daily. "At our age, if you’re not active, you don’t feel good."
Green and the other residents couldn’t be happier with the bridge they helped to build.
"The bridge is great. Everybody is amazed," he said.