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Bridge restorations earn awards

The historic steel-arch bridge at the county fairgrounds. (Photo by Patti Schaeffer)LISBON — Columbiana County Engineer Bert Dawson was recently honored by his peers for his efforts to preserve two historic bridges.

Dawson and his staff were honored in Columbus at the annual State of Ohio Bridges Conference for the preservation and restoration of the historic steel-arch bridge and the McClellan Covered Bridge. The preservation award was from the Federal Highway Administration, Ohio Department of Transportation, the State Historic Preservation Office and the County Engineers Association of Ohio.

“It’s quite a coveted award,” Dawson told county commissioners at their meeting last week.

Built in 1872, the 103-foot-long steel-arch bridge once spanned the Middle Fork of the Little Beaver on South Market Street in Lisbon before being replaced in the 1960s with a modern concrete structure. The bridge was moved next door to county property, where it remained until Dawson came up with the idea to have it restored and moved to county fairgrounds, where it serves as a pedestrian bridge from the parking lot.

The project cost $1.12 million, with commissioners and the fair board contributing $40,000 each, and the rest obtained by Dawson from federal and state agencies.

The McClellan Covered Bridge is located off Trinity Church Road in Center Township. Built in 1871, the 53-foot-long bridge spans a section of the West Fork of the Little Beaver Creek that was once part of a road that no longer exists and now lies in a farm field. Dawson obtained a $500,000 federal preservation grant to repair the bridge and add a parking lot for visitors.

The American Bridge Co., which did the restoration on the steel-arch bridge, also presented Dawson with a banner that has photographs of the ceremony held in July officially opening the bridge at the county fairgrounds. The banner will be display in the engineer’s office lobby.

“It’s a beautiful thing. I’ve never really seen anything quite like it,” Dawson said.

Commissioners praised Dawson for having the vision and the ability to find funding to pull off both restorations. “We’ve heard nothing but good” about the steel-arch bridge in particular, said Commission Chairman Jim Hoppel.

Dawson, the longest-serving county engineer in Ohio, has also restored other covered bridges in the county as well as the old historic train depot on South Market Street.

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