The New Salem Bridge
Prior to 1987 the bridge that spanned the railroad tracks from Highway 41 to New Salem Loop was a one lane wooden bridge, locally known as “Chicken Bridge”. It was determined that the wooden bridge was inadequate to carry two lanes of traffic. In order to address the desire to have a new and safer bridge structure, Hopkins County Fiscal Court and CSXT entered into an agreement. This agreement, dated November 2, 1987, allowed CSXT to remove the existing wooden bridge in order for the Hopkins County Fiscal Court to replace it with a new bridge structure. Once the agreement was executed, CSXT paid the Hopkins County Fiscal Court a sum of $50,000.00 and transferred all ownership and maintenance responsibilities of the New Salem Bridge from CSXT to the Hopkins County Fiscal Court. The agreement was approved by the Hopkins County Fiscal Court and was signed by then Hopkins County Judge/Executive Hanson D. Slaton and G.P. Michael, Vice President of CSX Rail Transport.
