Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

March 2, 2013

For thrill of it

Plan offers new life for bridge

ASHLAND — A high railroad trestle that for decades carried rail cars across the Kentucky River between Woodford and Anderson counties and was the cause of many dares may soon have a new life as a tourist attraction.

Young’s High Bridge, which is easily visible to traffic crossing the highway bridge on U.S. 60 between Versailles and Lawrenceburg, has been purchased for $105,000 by Young’s Bridge Partners LLC, which plans to offer bungee jumping from the bridge.

Mitchell Morris of Springfield, who is listed as the organizer and member of Young’s Bridge Partners, said he is general manager of Vertigo Bungee, a company that does base-jumping events around the world. 

Morris says the Kentucky bridge at Tyrone will be a marquee spot for the sport, and he may be right. For years, it was considered something of a rite of passage for young people to risk their lives walking across the bridge, where one misstep could result in a fatal fall or where an oncoming train could force bridge pedestrians to cling to the side of the bridge while a train sped by just inches away.

Morris said the company will operate the bridge as a private club. It hopes to have the first jumps off the bridge in May.

We confess that we are well past the age when bungee jumping had any appeal to us, but we can see where the young and daring could find leaping from the bridge as providing a thrill that is well worth the price.

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Editorials
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