Pinal County supervisors support renaming Gila River Bridge

An East Valley family is one step closer to having the Gila River Bridge in Florence named after the son and brother they lost.

On Wednesday, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to sign and forward a letter to the Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names to rename the bridge the “Rusty Greer Memorial Bridge.”

Russell “Rusty” John Greer was just 12 when he was struck and killed by a car in 1972 while he and his fellow Boy Scout troop members rode their bikes across the bridge over the Gila River on State Route 79 on the north side of Florence.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Goodman was a member of Greer’s troop and was on the bridge that day. He made the request of his fellow supervisors.

Goodman introduced the request during the board’s June 19 meeting. He was emotional as he recounted the events of that day.

“When we were 12 years old, we were on a scouting activity earning our merit badge for biking. We did a lot of rigorous things and the last thing that we needed to do was a 50-mile bike ride,” Goodman told the board. “We started at Apache Trail, came down Ellsworth and did all the back roads all the way to the bridge. Just on the other side of the bridge was the conclusion of that 50-mile ride.”

As they rode over the bridge, Goodman said that one of his friends gestured to warn Greer about oncoming traffic. Greer thought his friend was motioning for him to come over.

“Needless to say, Rusty pulled in front. As we loaded him into a station wagon to get him to the hospital here in Florence, you can imagine for a bunch of 12- and 14-year-old boys (what it was like) seeing one of their best friends hit by a car and not knowing what the outcome was going to be,” Goodman said.

Goodman said the Greer family, which hailed from Mesa, had “farmed and dairyed here in Arizona for years and years and years.”

“I grew up with Rusty. He was a good friend, a great friend of mine and we spent time at their dairy a lot of summers,” he said.

The move to rename the bridge was spearheaded by Rusty Greer’s younger brother, Doug Greer of Queen Creek. In a June 22 Facebook post, Doug Greer said he was 2 years old when his brother died.

“There were 13 other young men between the ages of 12 and 14 on this trip along with their dedicated adult leader,” Doug Greer wrote. “This was most certainly a very difficult time not only for our own family but also for those other 13 young men and their leader that witnessed this tragedy.”

Doug Greer stated he had submitted the paperwork to have the name of the bridge changed to that of his brother’s earlier this year.

“This is an important and necessary step that the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) requires when a name for a historical or geographic place is being requested,” Doug Greer stated. “As a family, we are asking for your support in this endeavor.”

The public can show its support for the renaming proposal at https://bit.ly/3zr7SF4.

“This idea has been many years in the making but now it is starting to look like it may become a reality,” Doug Greer wrote.

The Gila River Bridge today is different from the one in 1972, which was built during 1957-58. Starting in 2022, ADOT built a new bridge by creating new components, tearing down the old bridge and sliding its new halves into place over the site of the old connection.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.