LULA — Lula officials are growing tired of a more than 35-year battle over the wooden railroad bridge on Cobb Street.
At Monday night's city council work session, City Manager Dennis Bergin told the mayor and council he doesn't see Norfolk Southern being responsive to city concerns about getting the bridge reopened quickly.
"We have continued to correspond a one-way conversation with Norfolk Southern," Bergin said. "They told us as early as Jan. 18 ... that they'd have a response to us, and we continue to follow up on that and they have yet to give us anything."
Closure of the overpass, which links Main Street (Old Cornelia Highway) with Wall Street near the Lula Depot, sparked discussion among the city government beginning in mid-October.
At that time, Bergin said it had taken the city more than a year to get the bridge repaired the previous time it was closed.
Bergin didn't hesitate Monday night to share his thoughts on the matter with the council.
"It's probably about time that the council took an aggressive posture with the railroad in making some demands," Bergin said. "We have a court order that was as far back as 1980."
That court order lays out who is responsible for repair of the wooden overpass, which city leaders say is one of Lula's landmarks.
"We're not responsible for the repair, Norfolk Southern is," Bergin said in an October meeting.
Monday night, Bergin said it may be time for the city to take the next step in getting the railroad bridge repaired.
"My correspondence can continue, but you probably want to address that through your attorney," Bergin said. "I can't make 'em do what they're not going to do, and it doesn't look like they're going to do it."
Mayor Milton Turner, who said this is the fourth closure of the bridge during his time in city government, asked whether the city should proceed with its attorney or if it should again ask for help from lawmakers.
"I can go through what we did last time with federal transportation, but their position is they want the bridge to go away," Bergin said.
Bergin agreed to call Congressman Doug Collins to seek assistance on the city's behalf, noting height is the railroad's issue with the bridge.
"Ever since I've been on the council for 20-something years, it's never been tall enough," Turner said. "There's three bridges between here and Greenville that's a problem, and this is one of them. They would like to be able to go three-high on their containers, but there's three bridges between here and there that won't allow it."
Turner said he believes one of the other bridges that prevents triple stacking of containers is in Alto.
