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Marshall County Officials Concerned About Fish Creek Bridge Closure

Emergency response, business would be impacted by Fish?Creek project

CAMERON — The potential four-month closure of a bridge over Fish Creek has residents and local officials concerned about emergency response times and impact on local businesses.

Rumors about the Adeline Bridge, located in the southern part of Marshall County, have been swirling and last week county commissioners and emergency service officials met with West Virginia Division of Highways personnel about the project. The state’s contractor, St. Albans, W.Va.-based Triton Construction, pitched demolishing the bridge and rebuilding it in the same location as a cost-saving move, as opposed to building the new bridge adjacent to the existing structure to keep the route open.

The proposal is expected to see the span closed for approximately four months.

Marshall County Commissioner John Gruzinskas, along with emergency management officials, met with Triton Construction and voiced several concerns. In particular, Gruzinskas said, the delay in response time from emergency services was of chief concern to the county.

“I just made it clear that I was opposed to the project, the way it’s currently proposed by Triton. Their plan is to remove the existing span and put the new span in its place,” Gruzinskas said. “According to their plan, their detour would add 35 minutes onto any response from law enforcement, ambulance services, fire departments, post office, anything. When you’re talking about critical care, it certainly is a concern.”

Gruzinskas and county Administrator Betsy Frohnapfel also worry about the impact the bridge closure would have on local businesses, such as Mason’s Bar and Fish Creek General Store.

“We have several small businesses out in that area, and the bridge removal … it’s looking to be closed for four months. A lot of small businesses can’t take that reduction in income for four months. Some of those smaller stores are just operating on a shoestring anyway. … I just don’t know why they came up with this plan,” Gruzinskas said.

Gruzinskas was also frustrated to learn the project does not require the commission’s approval — only that the contractor answer concerns the county may have.

“I thought that the project was contingent upon the approval of the commission, but that is not the case,” he said. “The people from the DOH told us that the only thing that we may want to do is put all our concerns in writing, and forward those to Triton Construction, and they’d have to address that.”

Frohnapfel said the decision to avoid rerouting the bridge was the result of a cost-saving study, which would save the state approximately $986,000.

However, Gruzinskas said one of the contingencies suggested by Triton was to hire temporary EMS service for the area, which would reduce the savings.

“They’re saying they’ll save the state a million dollars. One of their counterproposals was, ‘What if we hire an ambulance to stay on the west side of the bridge?’ … Well, so why are we trying to save a million dollars and spend it on something like that? Why not just use the original plan?”

DOH District Engineer Gus Suwaid said the decision on the bridge project is not final, and the project is still in its beginning stages.

“There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made, but by no chance is this a final decision or a final course of action,” Suwaid said. “We understand the anxiety that comes as a result of that, and the contractor will have to proceed with several conditions before we proceed with the closure.”

Representatives from Triton Construction could not be reached for comment.

Fish Creek area resident Christi Reece said the bridge closure would be a massive inconvenience for her and her neighbors, and she hopes the contractor will reconsider the project to allow through traffic.

“All of the alternative routes to get us where we need to go are going to give us two to three times the travel time, and everyone will be put out — it won’t just be residents, it will be ambulance, emergency, police,” Reece said. “These are dirt roads. It’s an inconvenience that they don’t realize. One of my best friends lives across the bridge. It takes me five minutes to get to her house, but it will take 45 minutes to an hour to get there by the way I’ll have to reroute.”

Representatives from Triton Construction are scheduled to appear before the county commission during their regular meeting 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The Adaline Bridge was built in 1892 by Wrought Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio.

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