Grant County closes Fords Mill Road wooden bridge, declares deteriorated beams surplus

Grant County Fiscal Court members voted May 20 to declare beams removed from the wooden bridge on Fords Mill Road surplus and to allow the road department to remove and take them to a scrap yard so the bridge can be repaired.

The action responds to a state inspection that identified deterioration in the bridge’s supporting beams and resulted in a five-day notice to close the structure for public safety. Judge said state engineers had begun removing the old beams and that work was delayed by rain: "They've started jackhammering the beams out," the Judge said. The court authorized disposal to avoid liability concerns associated with reusing the beams as structural members.

The beams are approximately 30 feet long and number 12, the court said. The road department asked that the pieces be declared surplus so crews would not need to offload them from a trailer, declare them surplus later, then reload them. The court approved the surplus designation by voice vote.

County officials told the court they would not offer the beams for public sale because of liability risks tied to material previously used in a bridge superstructure. Judge said the county would likely get more for scrap value than attempting a public auction and noted concerns that someone might try to reuse the beams to span a creek and create a hazardous condition.

The court also discussed public notification. County staff posted a closure notice on the county Facebook page and road department staff reached out to nearby residents before the closure. Judge said the state began the physical work on the deck and beams; he said the timber decking put on the bridge a few years ago was salvageable but that the supporting beams showed deterioration requiring replacement.

No dollar amounts or contract awards were discussed at the meeting. The court did not specify an exact re-opening date; Judge said crews hoped to complete work as soon as weather permitted.