CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Plans to continue work on the Coonskin Bridge in Charleston are in full force, according to Kanawha County Parks and Recreation board members.
The winter weather had a big effect on many areas of West Virginia over the last several months including Coonskin Park. Bridge crews were on a 6-8 week break due to low temperatures and snowfall, but now they are back to work.
Jeff Hutchinson, Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Director, said bridge progress has moved along. By the end of Thursday, deck pans are expected to be placed in with rebars on top of that. Hutchinson said workers will concrete the bridge once the weather warms up.
Hutchinson said the weather effected some park areas and created low revenue.
“We couldn’t play any golf from November up until maybe five days ago. We had a real struggle with having the facilities open at times. The park was closed a day or two when the governor issued the state of emergency,” said Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said low temperatures, in the past month, created challenges on park grounds. Freezing and unthawing on the pavement caused concern in certain areas.
Hutchinson said grounds were really saturated as of Thursday. For that reason, the park’s golf learning center will open up for the first time this year on Friday.
Other wet conditions in Bigbend were not as big of a concern Thursday. Hutchinson said they had some water come up after the flooding a couple weeks ago, but it was nothing to be alarmed about.
“We don’t know what the full effect will be really until the grass starts growing, but we did have some water get up on a few holes at the golf course down there during this last high water period,” said Hutchinson.
The board members approved a chemical fertilizer bid at their Thursday morning meeting. The bid will be for the golf course grounds this coming year. The board also discussed plans to paint different areas of the park to give the area a fresh look before the bridge opens.