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Harmar Bridge sections a concern for Marietta officials

Photo by Janelle Patterson Matthew Cross, 5, of Belmont, runs across the Harmar Railroad Bridge Wednesday in Marietta.

MARIETTA — One of the luxuries of working and living in a small town like Marietta is the abundance of walkways connecting businesses, homes and parks.

But one walkway is creating safety concerns for the city’s engineering department.

“The primary concerns that I have are the approaches to the Harmar walking bridge,” said Joe Tucker, city engineer. “The main part has been inspected, maintained and is safe, but the approaches are in dire need of attention.”

The Historic Harmar Railroad Bridge is a privately owned icon of the city and is owned by the Harmar Bridge Company, a nonprofit which purchased the structure from the CSX Railroad in the 1980s. In addition to the bridge the group owns and maintains some surrounding Harmar properties such as the railroad cars near the bridge.

“The original bridge was a wooden overpass for people coming into town,” said Chuck Swaney, vice president of the nonprofit. “The piers there were built in 1857 and the iron construction is from 1913 after the flood. There’s something romantic about that bridge and I’d like to keep that romance alive.”

Swaney estimated that between 100 and 200 residents use the overpass to get from the east to the west side of town everyday and vice versa.

“The bridge is part of the character of the town,” said Kelly Meaux, 42, of Marietta as she walked the bridge Wednesday.

“I use it at least three times a week,” said Don Wilson, 59, of Marietta. “My office is at one end and the bank and post office are on the other so it’s easier for me to just walk across this than head down to the Putnam Bridge.”

Wilson said he has no concerns of the safety of the walkway but the railroad ties on the south side of the walkway are a cause for worry.

“As kids we used to walk across those ties, but they were all there before and weren’t rotted out,” he said. “I don’t see kids doing that as much now, and for good reason.”

Similar sentiments were shared by a mother walking with her children and Meaux.

“I think it feels safe; we let the kids run along it without worrying,” said Elizabeth Cross, 29, of Belmont. “We just don’t let them climb over the railing.”

While the railroad ties along the old train bridge are closed to the public, the only barrier stopping a person from climbing onto the tracks is a 42-inch wooden railing running along the walkway. And beneath the bridge pass three city rights of way, the River Trail on the east side and Fort Street and the street’s sidewalk on the west.

“The walkway portion is fairly sound, but the railroad ties on each approach are completely deteriorated and need to be taken down,” said Tucker. “It’s beyond repair.”

Sweeney said some work has been done in that area.

“We’ve cleared some of the ties on the east side but those ties are heavy and most of the work is done on a volunteer basis by the members of the company,” he said. “We’ve also been reviewing the numbers to see how we can get the ties on the Harmar side done professionally.”

Sweeney said there is not an estimate available for the cost of the west side’s tie removal. But the company just completed a $6,000 comprehensive study of the bridge and an assessment of the cost for the goal of connecting the bridge as part of the city’s River Trail.

“To make it a part of that it would cost $2.3 million,” he said. “But most of our money comes from modest fundraising throughout the year like spaghetti dinners and the Harmar Days festival. That is spent on maintaining our assets like the bridge and train cars on the west side.”

“The first problem is funding but to apply for funding you have to approach the problem of right of way,” said Tucker. “On the east side there is what appears to be a public sidewalk, but the city doesn’t own that. The Plumbers & Pipefitters Union owns the property and that concrete block is on their property. So the first priority should be to straighten out the right of way issue so then the city or the company can obtain grant funding.”

Previous efforts to compete for funding for the bridge’s overhaul in 2015 fell through, but Swaney said the company is willing to work with engineering to bring back peace of mind concerning the rotted ties.

The bridge was closed for eight months at one time due to structural integrity issues but reopened in May 2008 after work was completed. Officials say it’s not in danger of being closed now.

Marietta’s City Engineering Department and the Harmar Bridge Company plan to meet to discuss safety concerns of the approaches to the bridge.

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