PEYTON NEELY The Marietta Times Newport Township Trustee Bill Bowersock looks into the Hills Covered Bridge off of Ohio 26 on Friday afternoon.

NEWPORT TWP.–Nestled just outside of town off of Ohio 26 on Hills Bridge Road you’ll find one of the nine covered bridges in Washington County. However, this is the only covered bridge in the county that has been rated as critical and closed to all traffic.

And a fix probably won’t come this year, according to county officials.

Previously a pedestrian-only bridge, the Hills Covered Bridge has rotting on the wood underneath the bridge and has been closed to even foot traffic pending the acquisition of federal funds to repair the bridge.

“The Hills Covered Bridge was closed in the fall of 2016, prior to the Fall Foliage Tour of 2016. Our yearly inspection found wood rot at the lower chord connection points. The lower chord is made of wooden timbers that are then spliced together with shear blocks,” said Washington County Engineer Roger Wright. “The shear blocks, or connection points, started to rot and decay. It was enough rot that I wanted to limit the amount of additional load on the bridge to avoid any failure of a connection and possible injury to the public so it was closed.”

The Hills Covered Bridge was built in 1878. The bridge was rehabilitated in 2002 by Righter Company out of Columbus for about $132,340.

The Marietta-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau offers a self-guided covered bridge tour taking visitors to each of the covered bridges in the county. Visitor experience director Shannon Foltz said it’s always a sad situation when one of the bridges gets in this condition.

“The covered bridges here are a huge asset to the county. People will travel here just to see them,” she said. “They’re old but beautiful works of architecture and it’s certainly sad to see one fall into despair.”

The 2017 Getaway Guide for Washington County actually features a photo of a covered bridge on their cover.

“It’s a daily occurrence for people to come in here to go on a self-guided covered bridge tour,” she said. “But the last thing we would want is to see a visitor or someone local be put in harm’s way. Hopefully funds become available and we can bring it back in the near future.”

According to Wright, the county contracted in December with Woolpert, Inc. to perform in-depth covered bridge inspections on four bridges, a total cost of $19,500.

“The Bell, Shinn and Hune Covered Bridges were chosen due to traffic still crossing these structures. The Hills Covered Bridge was included due to the rot that we discovered and to determine the extent of decay,” said Wright. “Woolpert specializes in covered bridges and has an expert in the field on staff so we felt that a third party inspection was needed on the Hills Covered Bridge. The other three bridges are open to traffic and I felt it would be a good opportunity to have an expert also look at those structures while looking at the Hills Covered Bridge.”

Wright said once an inspection report is received, it will detail the amount of decay that the Hills Covered Bridge has and where the decay is.

“From that we can determine the best way to move forward with repair,” said Wright. “I do not foresee having the Hills Covered Bridge open to pedestrian traffic this year. From our in-house inspection and talking to the consultant about their inspection, some repair is going to be required.”

If extensive repairs are needed, Wright said the county will then pursue federal funds called Alternative Transportation Funds. These are funds dedicated to historical bridge repair, such as covered bridges and others.

“We will pursue grant funding but that is a competitive process and can be slow to get a project funded and under construction,” said Wright. “We know the bridge has a lot of traffic and we want to make sure it’s absolutely at its safest point before re-opening it. I’d like to get it open soon because a lot of people do go there.”

Ohio once had more than 2,000 covered bridges, according to Wright. Washington County once had more than 50 covered bridges scattered throughout the county. Floods and the ravages of time have destroyed all but nine of these bridges, which were built from 1832 to 1894.

Newport Township Trustee Bill Bowersock said he’s spent a lot of time around this bridge, with a family farm located just up the road.

“I definitely don’t want to see it get torn down,” he said. “Everyone knows where this bridge is. It’s the easiest to get to and it’s right off of State Route 26.”

Bowersock shared memories of a wedding taking place at the Hills Covered Bridge and even his granddaughter’s graduation pictures were taken there.

“When you say Hills Covered Bridge, people know what you’re talking about,” said Bowersock. “I really hope they are able to get it fixed and then have someone that can maintain the bridge periodically. It needs a fresh paint coat.”

Although this bridge is closed to any traffic, there are still eight other covered bridges that allow for pedestrian traffic and vehicle traffic. Six of the bridges are located in western Washington County including the Harra Covered Bridge (1878) Watertown, the Bell Covered Bridge (1888) in Barlow, the Shinn Covered Bridge (1886) in Palmer Township, the Henry Covered Bridge (1894) in Cutler, the Root Covered Bridge (1878) in Decaturville and he Mill Branch Covered Bridge (1832) in Barlow.

Two more join the Hills Covered Bridge just off of Ohio 26 and these are the Hune Covered Bridge (1879) located on Duff Road and the Rinard Covered Bridge (1871) located in in Wingett Run.

Covered Bridges in Washington County

¯Bell Covered Bridge: Built in 1888 and located in Barlow Township on Bell Road.

¯Harra Covered Bridge: Built in 1878 and located in Watertown Township on Camp Hervida Road.

¯Henry Covered Bridge: Built in 1894 and located in Fairfield Township on Clark Road off of Ohio 555.

¯Hill Covered Bridge: Built in 1878 and located in Newport Township on Hills Bridge Road off of Ohio 26.

¯Hune Covered Bridge: Built in 1879 and located in Lawrence Township on Duff Road off of Ohio 26.

¯Mill Branch Covered Bridge: Built in 1832 and located at the Barlow Fairgrounds at the junction of Ohio 339 and Ohio 550.

¯Rinard Covered Bridge: Built in 1871 and located in Ludlow Township at the junction of Ohio 26 and Tice Run Road.

¯Root Covered Bridge: Built in 1878 and located in Decatur Township on Brownrigg Road just north of Ohio 555.

¯Shinn Covered Bridge: Built in 1886 and located in Palmer Township on Shinn Road.

Source: Roger Wright, Washington County engineer.