3/14/2005

Cement Truck Damages Local River Crossing and Economy

Trucker Damages Vital Bridge Leading to Nuyaka Creek Winery.

For decades, two crooked wooden bridges at Nuyaka have provided the area's only high water crossing of the Deep Fork River. Once again this vital river crossing has been damaged. As in the past, a trucker chose to ignore the weight limits on the bridge in order to save a little time. Now, just as the rainy season begins, area residents and visitors to the nearby Nuyaka Creek Winery will be forced to detour.

Don't expect to see the details of who the driver was or what cement company is responsible in the media anytime soon. In Oklahoma, we call this 'building a business friendly environment'. Unless, of course your business happens to be in Nuyaka. Communities in rural America depend on their byways remaining viable, safe, healthy and scenic economic resources. Let's hope Okmulgee County gets to work on this issue soon!

Winery visitors can still get to Nuyaka Creek Winery from Creek County's roads, check the map on Nuyaka Creek's website for directions from Highway 16. This will make the second time in two years that an Okmulgee County bridge outage has frustrated visitors to Nuyaka Creek Winery's Annual Spring Wine Festival.

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