Closed Bridge on Townline Highway Could Lose Funds

A long-closed bridge in Lenawee County is in dan­ger of los­ing out on grant eli­gi­bil­ity. The bridge on Town­line High­way between Adrian and Rome has been closed since 2008, and the longer a bridge stays closed, the less pri­or­ity it receives for state fund­ing. In fact, the state is try­ing to remove bridges closed longer than five years from con­sid­er­a­tion alto­gether. The 60-foot bridge would cost about $700,000 to build, with both town­ships respon­si­ble for at least two-point-five per­cent of the cost. Only 20 per­cent of all bridge grant appli­ca­tions received fund­ing from the state last year due to bud­get shortfalls.