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County vacates former bridge sites

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The spans are long gone, so the Washington County Commissioners approved the abandonment of several sites as requested earlier this month by planning commission Executive Director Lisa Cessna.

“We’re just cleaning up the books,” Cessna said after an agenda-setting discussion. “There’s no bridge there, there’s not going to be a bridge there, the roads don’t carry traffic anymore.”

But, the county is still responsible to inspect the sites as long as they’re on the books as bridge abutments, so Cessna and county Solicitor Jana Grimm have been working for several months with townships and property owners on the steps required for formal abandonment.

One of the sites is the former Hawkins Bridge, Hull Road, over Ten Mile Creek, Deemston. The road is no longer open to traffic, and the bridge no longer exists. A 2018 Washington County Planning Commission bridge inventory spreadsheet describes it as “abutments only,” with no year of construction listed.

The commissioners approved an agreement with Dan Derber and Kathleen Martincic, owners of property at the Hull Road terminus, to assume ownership of and responsibility for the abutments.

“We are waiting for additional agreements from other property owners,” Cessna said.

A few more on state Game Commission land are likely to be added to the abandonment list.

“It’s literally paperwork,” she explained.

All county bridges are paid for and maintained under liquid fuels dollars that the county receives.

The other sites on which the commissioners took action are:

  • Abutments for the former Fox Bridge, built in 1942 at Pigeon Creek on Rosena Road, vacated by Fallowfield Township.
  • Abutments for the former Granville Bridge on School Street, California Borough, which ends at Pike Run. Date of construction is unknown.
  • Abutments for the former Martin’s Mill Bridge, built in 1899 over Ten Mile Creek on Township Road 323 in West Bethlehem Township, which was closed in 1990.

And abutments for two bridges on Crawford Road in West Finley Township that has not carried traffic for 20 years. The former Gray Bridge and Martin’s Mill bridges were built in 1899 to span Wheeling Creek.

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