Two offers for Amboy bridge

County Board clearly favors one proposal

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — A historic bridge that pit engineers against preservationists now faces two competing proposals.

In May, Blue Earth County asked the public for proposals to accept ownership and responsibility for the Dodd Ford Bridge, which was built in 1901 and spans the Blue Earth River near Amboy on County Road 147. It is now closed.

The County Board learned details of both proposals Wednesday during a work session. They didn’t vote, but the commissioners seemed to favor one over the other.

Lynda and Glenn Schull of Amboy offered to provide a spot for the bridge on their property. It would span a run-off channel that would have water during a rainy spring.

The county would move the bridge about 1,500 feet at an estimated cost of $50,000.

The Schulls say they want to honor the memory of the pioneers who built the bridge and settled Amboy. They’ve offered to build two concrete pads to be set on the new site.

The Dodd Ford Bridge Preservation Society made the other proposal, which essentially asks the county to wait until December. The society wants to purchase the bridge and is pursuing funds from the state sales tax increase.

All four commissioners said the society’s proposal would end up being a bigger burden on taxpayers.

A fifth County Board member will be elected Sept. 3, and that person will likely vote on this issue, County Administrator Dennis McCoy said.

Commissioner Kip Bruender said he didn’t like the idea of the state paying for the bridge, either, in a time of cuts to counties.

The state ought to pay for essential services instead of “old things that aren’t worth fixing,” he said.

Other commissioners weren’t as emphatic, but they preferred the Schull proposal.

Commissioner Tom McLaughlin said if the Preservation Society owns the bridge but can’t pay for it, the county would be forced to take it back.

“I don’t see the danger in the Schull proposal of it coming back to us,” he said.

The Schulls would put the bridge on a state snowmobile trail. It would be public for snowmobiles and cross-country skiers, but at other times the property owner’s permission would be required, Lynda Schull said.

The society faces daunting responsibilities associated with its proposal to accept a bridge. Public Works Director Al Forsberg said he knew of no other bridges in the state that have been repaired by private groups.

“It’s huge, it’s very huge, we’re well aware of that,” said Lisa Lindberg, a society member. “That’s one reason we wanted some more time to even make a final decision on this thing.”

Commissioners asked staff if the two groups could come together on a single proposal, but Forsberg said he didn’t think that was likely.

Alternatively, the county could do nothing and allow the bridge to decay and fall into the river or scrap it. Those alternatives seemed less likely than the proposals, but there have been plenty of unexpected twists in the bridge’s history.

The county was initially awarded about $1 million in federal funding for a new span, but preservationists objected. That initiated the federal government process to determine whether the bridge is historical.

Eventually, they told the county that the only acceptable project for federal dollars would be a rehab of the bridge for light vehicles.

But Forsberg said no project at all would be better than one that didn’t allow farm machinery to use the bridge and the County Board agreed, in April.

A vote on the bridge is expected sometime during the coming months.