Muskingum County Engineers say it’s Time for new Philo Bridge

PHILO, Ohio – The Philo Bridge opened in 1953 crossing the Muskingum River and connecting the village of Philo and the unincorporated area of Duncan Falls. Now, the Muskingum County Engineer’s Office is saying that it’s time for a replacement.

Thursday at Philo High School community members met to hear plans from county engineers about what they plan do with the bridge. County Engineer Doug Davis said that the original bridge is becoming less useful.

“The existing bridge that’s there now was built for a little over $800,000. We’ve put in over $800,000 in repairs,” said Davis. “It’s reached its useful life. On a scale of two-to-ten it’s a two, and its load-rated for 15 tons. We are literally keeping this bridge together as best as we can so we do not impede traffic traveling back-and-forth.”

Davis said they plan to build the new bridge while the old one is still standing to avoid having travelers make the five-mile drive to the Gaysport Bridge. The preferred location for the bridge would be on Bridge Street next to the original. However, Mound Road and Millers Lane are both being looked at as alternatives.

The new bridge will be a three-lane bridge with a pedestrian path. And as Davis said, new bridges do not come cheap.

“We’re 17-to-18 million in, plus the environmental, the ecological, the design, the construction, and the inspection of the structure, we are looking at 21 million dollars. We’ve applied for what they call ‘local-major money,’ from the Feds and if it approved then we would be looking at 4.2 million dollars in local money to put this in.”

Davis said with approval from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the federal government, they’ve moved the construction time up from 2019 to 2018.