GAMBIER — The Knox County Engineer’s Office has obtained Federal Enhancement Funds to rehabilitate the historic bridge on Big Run Road, near Gambier. The bridge was built by the Mount Vernon Bridge Co. in 1915.

Federal Enhancement Funds are part of the money given to the states by the federal government by the Department of Transportation. States are required by the federal government to set aside 10 percent of the total money given them for projects such as pedestrian walkways or rail-to-trail conversion. The bridge will be used as a pedestrian walkway when it is completed.

“The completion date is June 1, 2010,” said Jim Henry, Knox County engineer. “The contractor who was awarded the contract requested that date because his lay-down floor will not be available until early next year. What we intend to do is build a temporary pad out in the river to disassemble the bridge. The trusses, which are the main steel members that carry the load on each side, are going to be salvaged. They will be taken off and shipped to their shop and replated, sand blasted and shipped to a galvanizer.”

The trusses will be hot dipped into galvanizing tanks. Henry said they will probably need to be cut to fit into the 35-foot-deep tanks.

“They will be cut up into sections and rewelded,” Henry explained. “Then they will be sent back into the field to be reinstalled. Then pretty much everything between the trusses will be new. The usable deck will be narrowed.

“It’s not intended for vehicular traffic. It is intended for people to enjoy on the bridge or off the bridge. It’s a preservation project.”

Henry said the project is something he has wanted to see done for several years. When the first bid for the project was made, the plan was to repaint the parts of the bridge that were not going to be replaced.

“We bid this a year ago and the price came in very high,” Henry said. “The intent at that time was to repair the bridge onsite, and prep it and paint it. It became so cost prohibitive that it was suggested we galvanize the bridge rather than paint it onsite. The current price for the repair is about $838,000. The price for painting came in at about $1.3 million.”

The funds are administered by ODOT.

Although the project is under the jurisdiction of the county engineer’s office and not the park district, Kim Marshal Parks, Knox County Park District director, is glad to see the rehab taking place.

“People will be able to walk out on it or sit on it and maybe fish from it,” she said.

The bridge is next to the Kokosing River canoe access on Big Run Road, and can be accessed from the Kokosing Gap Trail through the canoe access area. Henry said that currently the bridge is extremely unsafe for any pedestrian traffic, and all signs to that effect should be heeded.