Creek jumping is not new to Coma. Long before movies like ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ and shows like ‘Dukes of Hazard’ made creek jumping look amazing the people of Coma used jumps as the only way to “cross a river” and were never trapped by the “use a bridge” option.
Coma Mayor Dave Anderson’s proposed budget would scrap jumps used by most traffic to cross Coma Creek with traditional vehicular bridges.
“Hopefully it makes getting across the creek a nicer experience,” Anderson said in a phone interview. “We are behind on our bridge construction schedule by a few decades so hopefully this money will get that proces back on track.”
Anderson’s budget allocated $1 million for bridge construction and would aim for the state to pick up the remaining $320 million cost of replacing with bridges the Jump for Joy, Jump Up for My Love, and the 21 Jump Street jumps over Coma Creek.
The proposal drew early opposition from Town Councilman Jax Owen.
“How are the people of this town going to know they are alive if they can”t get their car 15 to 20 feet into the air,”Owen said.
Other speakers at Monday’s Town Council meeting raised concerns about the impact on local businesses of scrapping the jumps, which bring an estimated $900,000 in annual tourism and auto repair business to the town.
Stan Bargmeyer, Coma’s historian, worried about the cultural impact of a jumpless Coma.
“For the sake of our children and our children’s’ children don’t take away an important touchstone that has helped bind our community together in terror-filled joy,” Bargmeyer said.
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