Trinity River logjam worries some

The powerful flow of water in the Trinity River has eroded the ground below this boat ramp under S.H. 21 until it may no longer be safe to use. Roxanne McKnight/Madisonville Meteor/Get this photo today at madisonvillemeteor.com

Roxanne McKnight with The Meteor

A logjam on the Trinity River on the eastern border of Madison County has some worried about the integrity of the S.H. 21 bridge above it, but TxDOT says not to worry.

After heavy rains fell last year, a pile of dead tree limbs and brush formed a large logjam on the Houston County side of the river. Since then, the logjam has become so large it has narrowed the width of the river at that point and forced the flow of water toward the Madison County side, where a public boat ramp is located.

The dirt around the boat ramp has eroded to the extent that the concrete ramp, once sitting on solid ground, is suspended above the water. Just off the bank, where the water used to be shallow, the river bottom is now estimated to be about 10 feet deep. A truck driving to the end of the ramp, if it were to break the concrete, could sustain severe damage to itself or a boat it was pulling - if not harm to someone who fell into the unexpectedly deep water.

County Commissioner Phil Grisham, in whose precinct the bridge is located, said the county may close the boat ramp if nothing is done soon to remove the logjam since the ramp cannot be repaired until the logjam is removed.

More importantly, though, he expressed concern about the integrity of the large bridge above the river. The advanced state of erosion around the ramp has him concerned about the possibility of damage to the bridge supports across the width of the river. He said he has called the regional TxDOT office in Lufkin, which is charged with overseeing maintenance of the bridge, several times over the past few months to try to get the debris removed, without success.

District Bridge Engineer Nancy Smith, however, says the Lufkin office has been in contact with the Austin bridge division, and they are monitoring the logjam.

“They (Austin engineers) are aware and they are helping us,” said Smith. “For right now the bridge is safe. We're keeping an eye on it, and if anything changes, we'll change our plans then.”

The plan, she said, is to get a contractor to remove the logjam around September.

“We have to comply with all the environmental rules about removing it,” said Smith. “We can't just loosen it up and let it float down the river. We can't just pile it up there on the roadway and burn it. We have to properly dispose it, so they've got to cut it up and haul it off. We'll have a contractor come and do it because it will take some special equipment. They'll have to reach down and probably do it from the bridge itself.”

In the meantime, Jerry Nemec, a consulting engineer for Madison County with offices in Huntsville, planned to inspect the logjam on Tuesday, July 1.

“Normally, the highway department checks pretty close on stuff like that,” said Nemec. “I feel like if they would have been really concerned, they would have been phoning somebody or working on it.”