It finally cleared off a bit, so I decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood. First, I got distracted by the tulips growing in our own front yard. I stopped to take a few shots as they were back lit by the afternoon sun.
My walk took me to the new cul-du-sac at the end of our street. Work is nearing completion on that project. The debris from removal of the houses has been cleared, and now grass is growing in the area that floods. It’s starting to look like a part, albeit with an under layer of mud.
A new gravel path has been created which winds along the back of the flood plain, high enough to stay in the dry. The areas that used to be home places still have flowers, azaleas, and other decorative plants, and many of these were in bloom. It lends a lovely, but almost sad feeling to the area, that some one used to live here.
The centerpiece of the area is the new pedestrian bridge and boardwalk across Brushy Creek. The creek had silted in so much that there was not enough clearance between the old automotive bridge and the creek bed. The bridge acted like a dam, flooding the houses upstream during any significant rain. The new bridge is much higher. If such damming did occur with this one, then we would REALLY be in trouble. Wooden boardwalks lead up to the bridge.
I had cheated and walked across the bridge a couple of times before it was actually ready. Today, there were no barriers, and the concrete ramp and pathway had been completed. I don’t know that it’s officially open, but there was certainly nothing to indicate that it wasn’t ready. I walked across snapping pictures along the way.
There is still a good bit of work to be done before this is all finished. However, with the grass greening up so nicely and the new bridge in place, it certainly looks much more pleasant than it did just a few weeks ago.