Long Description:Being an employee of AEP, I found out about this bridge from our
internal website, and also was able to find out some inside
information. I am working on collecting some more information, as
well as contacting the original discoverer for permission to post
additional photos. (So in other words, this page is still in the
works.) Most of the information on the "Old Halesford Bridge" has
been lost to time, as well as the bridge itself, for some time. As
I understand it, the area was very sparsely inhabited. Few people
were familiar with the old bridge, and those that were have
retired, or no longer available for comment. Since most structures
that might pose a hazard to the reservoir were removed before
flooding - the existance of the old bridge was a bit of controversy
until it was recently rediscovered with some new fishing equipment
technology and a curious fisherman, JD Abshire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Lake
This thread on a scuba diving message board discusses the
bridge, and a possible ghost town at the bottom of the lake (37°
2'6.18"N x 79°34'43.60"W)
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mid-atlantic-bottom-feeders/200406-smith-mountain-lake-underwater-town-fact-fiction-3.html
Another good article:
http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/new_technology_patrols_bottom_of_smith_mountain_lake/10048/
Smith Mountain Lake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location Virginia Coordinates 37°02'19?N 79°34'31?W? / ?37.03874°N
79.57535°W? / 37.03874; -79.57535Coordinates: 37°02'19?N
79°34'31?W? / ?37.03874°N 79.57535°W? / 37.03874; -79.57535 Lake
type reservoir Primary inflows Roanoke River, Blackwater River
Basin countries United States Surface area 32 sq mi (83 km2)[1]
Average depth 55 ft (17 m)[1] Max. depth 250 ft (76 m)[1] Water
volume 2.8 km3 (0.67 cu mi)[1] Shore length1 500 mi (800 km)
Surface elevation 795 ft (242 m)[2] References [1][2] 1 Shore
length is not a well-defined measure. Smith Mountain Lake is a
large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia[3], located
southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg.
Initial proposals were made in the late 1920s to dam the Roanoke
River and the Blackwater River at the Smith Mountain gorge to
generate electricity. Construction on the dam began in 1960 and was
completed in 1963. The lake reached its normal water level in March
1966. The lake is 20,600 acres (83 km2) and has over 500 miles (800
km) of shoreline. The north shore of the lake lies entirely in
Bedford County. The majority of the south shore of the lake lies in
Franklin County while a portion, including access to the dam, lies
in Pittsylvania County. The area lies in a broad valley nestled in
the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural south-central Virginia. Before
the lake's creation, farming and logging were the primary
industries. Communities around the lake include Moneta, Huddleston,
Union Hall, White House, Penhook and Goodview. There is no post
office with a Smith Mountain Lake mailing address. The Booker T.
Washington National Monument is near the west end of the lake. The
dam produces pumped-storage hydroelectricity. Water flows through
the dam turbines into Leesville Lake during the day (high demand
time) to produce supplemental electricity. Water is then pumped
from Leesville lake back into Smith Mountain Lake at night (low
demand time). The dam is operated by Appalachian Power, part of
American Electric Power. The level of the lake varies during the
day and night, as water flows through (and is pumped back through)
the dam. The normal maximum level of the lake (also known as "Full
Pond") is regulated to 795 feet (242.32 meters) above sea level.
The normal observed level (also known as "normal pond") is 794.20
feet (242.07 meters). The level can be significantly lower during
periods of extended drought. Lake levels were about six feet below
normal from time to time, during the years 2001 to 2003, after five
years of below-average rainfall. Smith Mountain Lake has become a
popular recreational area. Fishing is very popular, especially for
striped bass. The lake has hosted professional fishing tournaments.
Boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, riding personal watercraft,
and sailing are also common activities. Smith Mountain Lake State
Park opened in 1983 and provided a beach and a section for
swimming. Golf at one of the several nearby courses is a popular
landside activity.
Licensing AEP is licensed to operate the Smith Mountain
Project by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The
initial license term was for fifty years. In 1998, AEP began the
process of relicensing which should be complete in 2009. The new
license term may be up to fifty years. Under the requirements of
relicensing, AEP is required to perform numerous studies to
determine management requirements during the upcoming license term.
Once the new license is issued, amending AEP's license will become
much more difficult.
Shoreline management In 1998, the FERC required AEP to devise
and implement a shoreline management plan. The Shoreline Management
Plan (SMP) limits the development of all property within the
"project boundary." Local zoning regulations have been effectively
superseded by the SMP regulations. AEP acts as the permitting
agency. Any variance requests are reviewed by interested State and
Federal agencies such as Virginia Dept of Game and Inland
Fisheries. Disagreements must first proceed to the FERC, then be
appealed through the Federal Judicial System.
Development Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the area around
Smith Mountain Lake remained rural and remote with tobacco farms
and other agriculture. Marinas provided the bulk of public access
in the early years of the lake. The limited early residential
developments around the lake consisted largely of small trailer
parks and modest houses. However, residential growth has been
steady since the mid-1980s and increasingly upscale with large
lakefront houses, condominiums, and communities centered around
golf courses. The lake has both attracted those who commute to
Roanoke and Lynchburg and retirees, many of whom have relocated
from the Northeast. By the late 1990s, the number and affluence of
the new residents resulted in the construction of new retail and
commercial developments near the lake. Recent shoreline development
has been limited to residential construction. With the enactment of
Federal oversight of shoreline development in 1998 coupled with
soaring real estate values, there is an escalating loss of public
access to the lake as the lake's marinas are sold for residential
development. State Route 122 is the only primary highway that
crosses the lake, though State Route 24, State Route 116, and State
Route 40 are nearby. [edit] Recreational Access The majority of
access to the lake is through private residential property. Marinas
provide the majority of public access, but are increasingly being
converted to private, residential developments due to economic and
regulatory pressure. Recreation Use Assessment. The Smith Mountain
Lake State Park (located on the Bedford County side of the lake off
of Smith Mountain Parkway—Route 626), the Smith Mountain Community
Park (located on the Franklin County side of Smith Mountain Lake)
and several government managed boat ramps also provide public
access.
Commercial saturation diving system Cachalot was the first
commercial saturation diving system and was designed by
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Underseas Division (Tom O'Neill
and Alan Krassburg) for use in clearing the trash rack of the Smith
Mountain Dam in Virginia. The system consisted of a large chamber
Deck Decompression Chamber or DDC and a Personnel Transfer Capsule
(PTC) which could be mated to the DDC at pressure. The divers lived
in the DDC and went back and forth to work in the PTC. The
operation was between depths of 159 and 240 feet (73 m) and lasted
for four months beginning in August 1965. To do the job using
contemporary conventional techniques would have entailed draining
the whole reservoir, a two year job. To do the job using two divers
at a time from saturation replaced 32 divers using normal surface
diving techniques. This system was the forerunner of the great
explosion of commercial diving systems which soon spread across the
world. In fact, the first at sea commercial saturation dive was
done in 1966 in the Gulf of Mexico using this same system.
All information & photos have been obtained by permission of
the originator(s), or is otherwise obtainable elsewhere on the web.
As requested for privacy reasons, some sources have been left
anonymous.