WATERVILLE — As Kokosing crews carefully remove portions of the Roche de Boeuf Interurban Bridge to reveal its arches and piers, members of the Save the Bridge Association updated Waterville City Council at its Oct. 26 meeting on what comes next for the historic Maumee River crossing, according to the Toledo Free Press.
Work on the bridge has been underway since July, with Kokosing operators taking down the spandrel walls and scooping out the earthen fill, the Toledo Free Press reported. Crews are now doing a more surgical removal of the remaining wall sections to reveal what association board member Janice Braida called “Romanesque arches” reminiscent of historic bridges in Europe, the Toledo Free Press reported.
“This is an historic event. This bridge is nationally important,” association president Rex Childers told the council, according to the Toledo Free Press. “The fact that the arches and piers are going to survive, we are now confident that yes, it’s going to stand,” Childers told the Toledo Free Press.
On Oct. 31, Childers, board member John Pautz II and historic bridge engineer Bill Vermes will speak at the annual meeting of the Ohio Historic Bridge Association, whose members are interested in how the bridge went from planned demolition to planning for a future use as a non-motorized bridge, according to the Toledo Free Press.
Childers credited council’s decision earlier this year to trust new evidence and vote in favor of purchasing the bridge, telling council members, according to the Toledo Free Press, that the outcome “will be important to Waterville and northwest Ohio, economically and socially.”
The next step is fundraising to pay for testing and for hiring a level-three bridge designer and a grant writer, Childers said, according to the Toledo Free Press. The city purchased the bridge from the state earlier this year, and supporters envision the surviving arches carrying a future pedestrian and bicycle connection.
For now, the careful demolition work continues, and each removed section reveals more of the concrete arches that supporters fought to save. The association’s presentation on Oct. 31 will share Waterville’s preservation story with bridge advocates from across Ohio.
Photo: Yolanda Arkilander, CC BY