DEFIANCE BRIDGE IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT

Accord­ing to state offi­cials, the Clin­ton Street Bridge in Defi­ance is ten­ta­tively sched­uled for replace­ment within the next six years, though Ohio offi­cials say it remains safe for travel in the mean­time.

The state has been keep­ing an eye on the bridge’s box beams for sev­eral years, accord­ing to the Ohio Depart­ment of Transportation’s Dis­trict 1 office in Lima. The con­crete box beams include ten­sioned steel strands which have shown some dete­ri­o­ra­tion.

Offi­cials say there are no imme­di­ate safety con­cerns how­ever. They say there are so many redun­dan­cies built into bridges such as that one, you can have sev­eral minor things go awry, and the bridge is still very safe.

Replac­ing the bridge would cost about $20 mil­lion. Replac­ing the deck only — which was last done in the early 1980s — might cost half that accord­ing to the state.