2023 County Bridge Projects

BLUE ROCK, Ohio – Maintaining transportation infrastructure in a rural county can be a tricky task due to less people and less revenues.

Muskingum County Engineer Mark Eicher discussed some of the bridge work that the county is undertaking in 2023 as well as some of the financial opportunities that have arrived to help them stay affordable.

“We have quite a few bridge projects going on right now,” Eicher said. “We have Clay Pike, which is actually set to open here shortly. Darlington (Road) and that’s under construction right now. The demolition has been completed and they should be ready to start pouring new abutments here in the next week or two. Lower Croft should be closing here in the next week and they’ll be demoing that bridge and be getting ready to construct it here. And both of those bridges are scheduled to be open by the end of the year.”

County crews have completed 10 smaller bridges this year and are performing three major bridge rehabs across the county in addition to the major bridge projects that have been contracted out to corporate construction firms.

“No. It’s not cheap to do bridge work and we start years in advance,” Eicher said. “We have to start at least 5 years in advance of a project like this. More like 10 years for a project like this but for a normal bridge at least 5 years in advance. We have to be looking at obtaining the funding, first of all we have to find a bridge that’s bad enough that we can get funding on, yet good enough that it’ll last another 5 years. And then we have to start planning, obtain the funding, then start… You’ve got environmental, right of way, hydraulics. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it.”

Four county road bridges are already slated for construction next year. They are Adams Lane, Piper Road, Schoolhouse Road and Wortman Road.