One Year After Floods, Gary Sunburst Drive Residents Still Without Drivable Bridge

Residents of Sunburst Drive in Gary, McDowell County, remain cut off from the rest of the city one year after floodwaters destroyed the private access bridge over the Tug Fork, forcing daily walks of roughly a mile to a mile-and-a-half along railroad tracks to reach cars, work, school and groceries. "Every morning we go behind our house and get on the railroad tracks and walk until we can get on the road, which is probably like a mile, mile-and-a-half walk to go to work, school, grocery shop. Everything," said Tara Cummings, who lives on Sunburst Drive.

The bridge that once carried neighborhood traffic into Gary was washed away in the mid-February 2025 storms, leaving the row of Sunburst Drive homes isolated from city streets and transit routes. Dolores Johnson, a lifelong Gary resident and member of the Sunburst Drive neighborhood for 30 years, framed the loss in economic and historical terms: "McDowell County has built this country, and as we go to other places, we can see people moving on and has a prosperous life, but we have none here, so what has happened?"

Daily survival routines have changed to match the damage. Several families park cars at a nearby clinic and make the trek by foot from behind their houses to the railroad corridor, a route residents acknowledge is illegal and dangerous but say they have little choice but to use. Neighbors say the bridge was their primary route to jobs and services; Cummings called it essential to "get to our livelihood, to our work and other activities, so it's the only way to actually survive."

Officials outlined a plan last summer for an alternate route, but residents say they have seen no finished drivable connection. In July 2025 a spokesman for the governor said the West Virginia Emergency Management Division was working with the McDowell County Commission, that the Division of Highways had agreed to donate asphalt, and that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection would oversee safety protocols for any work. Gov. Patrick Morrisey has said, "We have sent so many teams down over the last year and I think people have really seen a difference in terms of the infrastructure."

Despite those pledges, as of Feb. 16, 2026, 365 days after the February 2025 floods, Sunburst Drive residents report they "still have yet to see progress on an access bridge" and remain dependent on the hazardous railroad route. Darryl Atkinson, who also lives on Sunburst, warned that "a solution needs to be put in place at least by the time the winter months roll in," underscoring the seasonal urgency for safe, drivable access.

Recovery across the Two Virginias following the February storms has been uneven, with communities like Mercer County also affected, but Sunburst Drive's continued isolation highlights persistent gaps in infrastructure recovery, emergency planning and equitable access to health care and employment. Key details remain unresolved: the private bridge owner, the exact number of households cut off, the name of the clinic used for parking, and whether construction has formally begun on any alternate route. Residents and local leaders say answers and action are needed now.