Sad history of Taitung’s Dian Guang Bridge

Dianguang Village in located beside the Coastal Range (海岸山脈) opposite Guanshan and Beinan River (卑南溪). Dianguang lies in the administrative region of Guanshan, but as the Beinan River divides it from Guanshan, before the building of a bridge transportation was extremely inconvenient. Each year, only after the rainy season could local residents use a makeshift bridge of bamboo and wood to cross over the river and reach Guanshan. Some years the bridge had to be rebuilt four or five times within the same year, because it would be washed away with the arrival of each new typhoon. At such times, the villagers would be forced to make a long detour to Chishang or Ruiyuan.

Guanshan Township Office tried several times to apply for construction funds to build a large bridge, but owing to the huge expenditure required, it was unable to fulfill this aspiration. From time to time, Dianguang residents would hear of tragedies resulting from the attempts to cross the river, such as the headmaster of Dianguang Elementary School and his child. The situation did not change until 1985, when a junior high school student wrote a nine-page-long letter to the then governor Qiu Chuang-huan (邱創煥), outlining the three terrible years he spent wading across the river to attend school – in 1994 Dianguang Bridge was formally opened to vehicles. The local citizen journalist looks back on former times, and reminds us to cherish the good fortune we find ourselves with today.

Sad history of Taitung’s Dian Guang Bridge
URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/226365

(以下為中文對照)
台東電光大橋的血淚心酸史

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台東縣關山鎮電光里位於海岸山脈旁，隔著卑南溪和和關山鎮相對。電光里雖然是關山鎮之轄區，但因為一水之隔，早期大橋還未興建時交通非常不方便。當地居民每年雨季過後，只能以竹、木便橋通行往返關山，有時一年要築橋三、四次，但當雨季來臨時，便橋就被沖走，他們只好繞道池上或瑞源，路途遙遠。雖然鎮公所多次爭取補助興建大橋，但因經費龐大都未能如願。電光居民因為渡河而被水沖走的消息時有所聞，其中包括了電光國小校長及他的小孩。一直到民國七十四，有一位電光里的國中畢業生寫了九張信紙向當時省主席邱創煥傾訴他三年來涉水過橋就學的辛酸往事，事情才有了轉機，在民國83年電光大橋正式通車。在地的公民記者回首過去歷史，更加珍惜現在有的福報。