Junction Road Bridge

The sad part of it is that I wouldn't have put it past Preble County considering some of the poor judgement they have shown in recent years toward their metal trusses. I am certainly relieved to know that this iconic span is safe!

Good to know. I am glad that this one is still intact.

This seemed a little unbelievable to me, so I checked in with my Ohio contacts. They called Scott Brown at Ohio District 8 who provided the following information that shows not only that the bridge is still standing, but is being maintained:

"I just got off the phone with Tony McWhinney at the Preble County Engineer’s Office. The bridge in question is still standing, has not been replaced, relocated, etc. This bridge is located a little over half a mile east of Fairhaven College Corner Road.

There was another structure on Junction Road that was replaced by Preble County Engineer’s Office (located 0.17 miles west of Camden College Corner Road) back in 2011 (PID #83047). I’m not sure why the comments in Bridge Hunter were made – but perhaps those who commented were looking for the bowstring truss and came across the structure that was replaced in 2011 (i.e. were in the wrong location)?

Anyway, for what it’s worth, Preble County Engineer’s Office crews were at the truss last week, removing vegetation from around the structure that had come down during recent storms. If/when the County needs to address the existing truss, they acknowledged that they would rehab it to maintain the historic integrity, and would likely do it through a federal-aid project with ODOT oversight (since it is such a large structure)."

What the HELL!!! The Preble County powers that be have lost their D..M minds!!!

This used to be one of my favorite county's to visit, but then they proceeded to annihilate most of their pony trusses including the rare Longman Road Bridge. They destroy another pony just to replace it with one of the ugliest replica covered bridges I have even seen... and then plan to relocate a different pony into the state park. Then they finally do a good thing in rehabilitating the Seven Mile Road Bridge... Only to botch the placement of the historic plaques so that Mr. Cross can have his name equally placed. And now this? I can only hope that it is going somewhere that it will be better appreciated... and not into a scrap furnace!

Is there a chance that this bridge might be in storage? If this bridge got scrapped, it would be one of the worst losses of a historic bridge since this website got started.

Ohio and Iowa are essentially co-champions when it comes to surviving numbers of bowstring bridges per state. Iowa has lost some of its bowstrings in recent years and I really hope that Ohio does not follow suit.

This beauty is gone as of 6/16😑😑.

07/16/12 was a frustrating visit to Preble county. Seemed like every road I drove down was closed at a metal bridge. However, the Junction Rd. bridge was still open.