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Historic Bridge Coming Down in Sperry

Posted at 5:03 PM, Nov 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-17 19:19:18-05

An old metal bridge on Highway 11 is coming down, but it's not the end of the road for this piece of history. The 77-year-old structure towers over Hominy Creek, and according to many locals needs some attention.

“It needs to be fixed, it’s been a long time coming,” said Sperry resident Bobby Sappington.

The bridge was built back in 1940, and was recently deemed 'structurally deficient' but ODOT. While residents are glad to see improvements underway, they are not thrilled about the added commute time because of the closure.

“That's going to be inconvenient having to detour around which will be several miles that we’ll have to go,” said Turley resident Jane Willis.

Residents also have concerns over the limited detour routes in the area. 

“It’s a one lane road most of the way old county road, they got a gravel bridge set up, it’s not real large, I think we're going to have some accidents there,” said Sappington.

Although the highway location is water under the bridge, the structure will live on in the hands of a local farmer, thanks to ODOT's Adopt-A-Bridge program.

“He’s going to use it across a slew and make a pasture bridge or something like that," said Barrington.

All lanes of SH-11 are closed, and traffic will detour to SH-20, US-75, and SH-11. The $3.8 million project is expected to be complete in the Spring of 2018.
 

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