In August 1928, T. A. Loving & Son of Goldsboro, North Carolina, began building a new bridge between Hurt and Altavista to cross the Staunton River and pass over the Virginian Railway. In an area prone to wash-outs since the 1870s, the bridge promised better connections by combining concrete footings with riveted steel trestles. Its steel and concrete design used trusses with rivets throughout, following the triangular Warren truss system patented by James Warren and Willoughby Monzani in 1848, a British form that spread to the United States and became especially popular from 1900 through the 1920s as improved riveting and steel made such construction more practical. C. M. Clay directed the work in 1928 and 1929. Concrete work began the week of August 12, 1928, and an estimated 150 men were employed at the height of construction. After storm flooding during construction, the plans were changed: instead of two bridges connected by fill, the fill was abandoned for a roadway supported by concrete footers from the edge of the Staunton River to Altavista's Main Street. Fabricated steel for the trusses arrived in five cars during the final week of November 1928, after concrete work had advanced rapidly through the late summer and fall. The bridge was completed in 1929, and a pedestrian walkway was added in 1948. Immediately west of the U.S. Business 29 Staunton River crossing stands a Pratt truss bridge carrying the Norfolk Southern Railway between Hurt and Altavista. Farther west on the Staunton River, a plate girder bridge built by the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company of Roanoke once carried the Virginian Railway on its east-west route. East of the current trestle and road bridge for U.S. Business 29 lie an abandoned railroad bed and concrete pads for a second Southern Railway bridge demolished in 1983.