With lawsuit lingering, CSX begins repairs to disputed Kanawha Canal Bridge

The Kanawha Canal Bridge, as seen from its northern side, before its wood deck was replaced by CSX in recent months. (BizSense file photo)

A group of prominent local families appear to be gaining some traction in their bid to force CSX to fix an old bridge that serves as the only way in and out of their riverfront island neighborhood.

The railroad giant recently made some repairs and says more are in the works for the aging Kanawha Canal Bridge, after a lawsuit filed this year by Bradford Sauer, Meade Spotts, Thomas and Ann Gottwald and others.

The families each reside on a private, island-bound section of River Road, near its intersection with Huguenot Road across from River Road Shopping Center. The island is accessible only by traversing a narrow bridge that runs about 75 feet across the canal.

CSX owns the bridge, and the families claim the company, thanks to a succession of deeds dating to the 1800s, is responsible for its upkeep.

However, the residents claim in a lawsuit first filed in February that CSX has not kept the bridge in “proper repair” since 2004. That’s despite CSX regularly using the bridge to make repairs along the nearby Williams Island bend in the railroad, the lawsuit claims.

But in recent months as the lawsuit continued to play out, CSX appears to have begun at least surface repairs on the bridge. Previously rickety wood boards that support cars crossing the bridge have been replaced recently with new, more stable planks.

And CSX said in a court filing this month that it is “continuing its ongoing efforts to repair the Kanawha Canal Bridge,” and the completion of those repairs “may render further litigation unnecessary.”

CSX earlier this month asked a Henrico County Circuit judge to extend its deadline to respond to the lawsuit. It argued that the extension would allow it to focus on efforts to repair the bridge.

The judge approved the request and set the response deadline to Dec. 30. The court also ordered CSX to repair the bridge to a “Cooper E60 load rating,” a reference to load capacity for railroad bridges.

CSX declined to comment this week about the status and timeline of the bridge repairs.

Attorneys representing the plaintiff families did not return a message seeking comment.

The bridge is marked here with the red line near the top of the map. The residents’ properties are within the red highlighted boundary along the riverfront.

Sauer is known locally for his family’s namesake spice company and real estate holdings. Spotts is one of the named partners of downtown law firm Spotts Fain. And Thomas Gottwald is CEO of petroleum additives company NewMarket, while Ann, his wife, owns The Georges boutique hotel in Lexington.

Other plaintiffs in the case are island resident Marcella H. Bullock and Picket Holdings LLC, an entity that appears to be tied to Spotts and owns a nearby parcel with a Hugeunot Road address. The lawsuit states that Spotts and Sauer jointly own the access road leading up to the bridge.

According to the lawsuit, the island was created through the construction of the Kanawha Canal, which began in the 1780s and continued for decades. The canal was built by the James River and Kanawha Co.

The General Assembly, the lawsuit states, passed an act in 1832 requiring the deed holder of the canal to maintain the bridge.

In 1880, the James River and Kanawha Co. conveyed the canal and bridge to the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad Co. Various railroad mergers through the decades made CSX a successor of R&A and, by extension, the owner of the canal and bridge.

The original bridge across that section of the canal was destroyed in a flood in 1985. CSX built the replacement bridge by laying wooden planks atop an abandoned railway trestle, creating the version of the bridge that has been used ever since.

Worried about the state of the bridge, Sauer, at his own expense in 2022, hired infrastructure advisory firm Moffatt & Nichol to inspect the bridge and prepare a report on its condition, the lawsuit states.

That report found the bridge’s piles to be in “critical condition” and that the bridge may need to be closed, according to the lawsuit. The report also found that the bridge’s retaining walls were in a serious state of disrepair.

The plaintiffs say that they relayed those findings to CSX that year, but no repairs had been made before the filing of the lawsuit, by which time the structure had deteriorated further.

The plaintiffs state they sent a formal demand to CSX last September, calling for the bridge to be repaired, however they claim that before the lawsuit was filed CSX had “not provided a meaningful response.”

The bridge as seen from its southern end.

The lawsuit claims a violation of the Act of 1832 and asks for a court order to force CSX to make the necessary repairs. The suit also alleges a claim of public nuisance and negligence.

The suit cites a violation of Virginia code requiring “public service organizations,” of which it argues CSX is one, to “keep such wagonways in good repair.”

The plaintiffs ask the court to rule in favor of at least one of several options.

It asks for a three-person “board of commissioners” panel to determine the state of the bridge and whether CSX should be required by law to repair or replace it.

Next it asks for damages of no less than $2.5 million, which the plaintiffs would use to make the repairs themselves.

Another option is for a special grand jury to investigate the issue as a public nuisance.

It also asks for additional damages of no less than $25,000 to reimburse Sauer for money he has put into the matter.

CSX is represented by attorneys Michael Finney and Emily Mordecai from the Gentry Locke law firm.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jaime Wisegarver and Connor Bleakley of Hirschler.

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