Talking Orange Road Bridge Blues (Again)

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The following was written for the February 7 Delaware Gazette.
This is the bridge in question - http://www.bridgehunter.com/oh/delaware/orange-road/
Group forms to save historic bridge from demolition
MELISSA MACKEY --Staff Writer

Lib­erty Town­ship is look­ing for those inter­ested in sav­ing the 1800s-era Orange Road bridge, which has been slated for demo­li­tion since 2009.

Town­ship res­i­dent Jim Bres­na­han recently approached the town­ship about form­ing a com­mit­tee to gen­er­ate ideas on how to pre­serve the his­toric bridge, said Dave Ander­son, town­ship administrator.

The com­mit­tee will be more of a short-term infor­mal group and is seek­ing either a let­ter of inter­est or resume from inter­ested cit­i­zens by Feb. 17. The num­ber of peo­ple on the com­mit­tee will be lim­ited. So far, about three peo­ple have expressed an inter­est, Ander­son said.

The town­ship is seek­ing cit­i­zens from a vari­ety of backgrounds.

"We want to get a diverse group of peo­ple to take a look at what the options are,"  Ander­son said. "We want to have cit­i­zen input and have their fin­ger­prints on the glass, so to speak. There are some strong opin­ions out there, but hard choices need to be made."

Mem­bers of the com­mit­tee will be tasked with offer­ing ideas and options for the Orange Road bridge, which will then be given to Delaware County Engi­neer Chris Bauserman.

The Orange Road bridge, which is listed on the National Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places, was closed to traf­fic due to struc­tural and safety issues in 2007. A new bridge opened to traf­fic in 2009, which is just north of the his­toric one.

Bauser­man said the Ohio Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources requires a plan for the bridge, whether that's mov­ing the bridge from its cur­rent loca­tion or demol­ish­ing it.

Bauser­man has met with a few peo­ple inter­ested in pre­serv­ing the bridge and said the county is will­ing to work with the com­mit­tee if a fease­ble alter­na­tive is offered.

"They've asked us to be at least part of the task force and offer tech­ni­cal assis­tance to them,"  Bauser­man said. "We're will­ing to work with them and try to help sort out what they'd like to see done with the bridge. Our com­mit­ment has been to remove the bridge from the river from the begin­ning or find some­one who wants to reuse the bridge."

The plan is to seek bids for the nearby round­about con­struc­tion project at Car­riage Drive and Ohio 315 in late spring to include an alter­nate bid for remov­ing the Orange Road bridge struc­ture, Bauser­man said. Esti­mates for remov­ing the bridge, remov­ing and relo­cat­ing the bridge and demol­ish­ing the bridge for scrap mate­ri­als would be included in the bid, he said.

"I don't think any­body involved in this at any level would want to see the old bridge there col­lapse with no care and upkeep,"  Bauser­man said. "This is some­thing that wasn't ini­ti­ated by the county or town­ship, but a group of peo­ple who want to try to at least inves­ti­gate pre­serv­ing the bridge. If we can do that within our lim­i­ta­tions, I don't see any rea­son for us not to do that."

Bauser­man said that it's the county's finan­cial respon­si­bil­ity to remove the bridge that tra­verses the river. If the group is inter­ested in putting it back together some­where else, that would have to be funded privately.

"If the bridge is ren­o­vated and left in place for some use, we've said we would pledge the amount of money it takes to remove it for that pur­pose, as long as some other group picked up the rest of the cost,"  Bauser­man said.

Sev­eral years ago, the county esti­mated that it would cost about $350,000 to make the bridge usable for pedes­trian use. That amount would be higher today, Bauser­man said.

The town­ship doesn't have much in the way of funds, if any, to help with the project, Ander­son said.

"With the state and fed­eral bud­gets being bal­anced on the back of local gov­ern­ment, we have more chal­lenges than ever,"  Ander­son said. "We're not in a posi­tion to put a whole lot of cash into some­thing like this. We cer­tainly can't use road or fire funds. It would only come from the gen­eral fund if that is a choice to be made."

Those inter­ested in join­ing the com­mit­tee should con­tact Ander­son at 740—938-2000. The com­mit­tee would get started with meet­ings this month, Ander­son said.

[rawmustard]

Sev­eral years ago, the county esti­mated that it would cost about $350,000 to make the bridge usable for pedes­trian use. That amount would be higher today, Bauser­man said.

It seemed usable to my buddies and me as pedestrians last May. Certainly the expense can't be too much greater.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Sev­eral years ago, the county esti­mated that it would cost about $350,000 to make the bridge usable for pedes­trian use. That amount would be higher today, Bauser­man said.

It seemed usable to my buddies and me as pedestrians last May. Certainly the expense can't be too much greater.

Unfortunetly, the Orange Road Bridge experience has soured Bauserman on preserving any of the last three iron bridges left in the county.