BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- For most of this century, a one-lane steel bridge carried Gum Grove Road over Todds Fork Creek to Ohio 132 in rural Warren County.
Now, the narrow, twisting road abruptly stops at the creek, blocked by a guardrail and a pale sign that simply says "Bridge Out."
The bridge was closed in 1994 and later removed after it fell apart. Officials say it could be at least five years before a new $1 million span is built.
"We're looking at getting some federal funds for that, but the earliest we could do that is 2003," said Warren County Engineer Neil Tunison. "There was really no repair we could have done on it. It was an old steel truss. It was built in 1914."
Residents and officials are coping with the break in the road by using U.S. 22 - Ohio 3 and Ohio 350 instead.
"It makes for a detour," said Warren County Sheriff Tom Ariss. "We just learn to adjust to that problem."
Washington Township officials, who had to post detours about 7 miles long, hope to work with the county commissioners to secure money for a new bridge.
"I think that's really the only alternative we have," said Township Trustee Denver Williams. "It's a $1 million bridge and our budget's $250,000 a year. It is the only north - south corridor in our township. It's just a road that really doesn't have a quick detour."
Officials also worry that emergency crews and school buses have to go around the site.
The wait for a new bridge does not sit well with Rhonda Mason, 25, who grew up and still lives on Gum Grove, a block from Todds Fork.
"We did use that road a lot," she said. "It was real nice to be able to use that. Everybody I've talked to hates it" being closed.
For Ms. Mason and her neighbors, what used to be a 15-minute jaunt into Blanchester is now a half-hour trip. They detour on U.S. 22 - Ohio 3 and through Clarksville.
"It irritated the life out of me in the beginning," said Norma Hendricks, whose 120 acres front Gum Grove and end at the creek. "I can't really see any advantage to me personally."
The bridge was not only a convenience, it was a special part of growing up on Gum Grove Road, said Ms. Mason. As a kid living in the bridge's shadow, she would take walks along the bridge or to the water's edge.
"We loved it," she said. "We'd sit down there for hours. That part of growing up is gone."
