Muskingum County Engineer discusses repairs to bridges

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- There are 411 bridges across Muskingum County and several of them are deemed structurally deficient, but getting them repaired is not an easy feat.

Muskingum County Engineer Doug Davis said the county has repaired 71 bridges over the last 13 years, but there are still 74 bridges that need to be fixed. The problem is, the county can’t afford to fix them. Eleven of the 71 bridges that have been repaired were funded with the help of Governor Kasich through the Ohio Bridge Partnership Program and that cost a whooping five point five million dollars. Davis said there is a way to fund the remaining repairs.

‘We could help us fund some of these deficiencies that I can see that we need. If we could generate that extra $700,000 a year, it would cost each individual an extra $10 for each vehicle that they have. That’s $10 per vehicle once a year is what we would need to do.”

Davis said there are two bridges in the county that are in dire need of repair and will have to be closed if they can’t be fixed. And then there are 21 bridges deemed to be in serious condition and another 49 in poor condition. Davis said help from the government is also needed to help get these projects underway.

“We need Federal Transportation Budget. We need the President of the United States. We need the Congress. We need them to pass a transportation budget to give us locals more say, more money, here to be able to fund what we’re doing.”

Davis said the county is doing everything it can to save money to put towards fixing the bridges, but money is already tight.

“Bottom line, that’s it. We’re running out of funds. We stretched our money about as far as we can stretch it recycling and doing things here at the county engineer’s office. Right now our roadways are suffering a little bit because I’ve been taking money from the resurfacing that we normally would do to help fix bridges.”

For now, Davis is working on getting the Philo bridge repaired which will cost 18 million dollars. He says he has a pre-bid meeting this week to see see what can be done.