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January 2, 2010

Bridge backers get support

Legacy funds award to preservation group

By Mark Fischenich

AMBOY — The holiday gifts came in three parts for the Dodd Ford Bridge Preservation Society, the organization hoping to save and restore the historic bridge near Amboy.

First came a National Trust grant for $3,000, but it required $3,000 in matching funds. The match came Dec. 17 when the Minnesota Historical Society announced it was awarding a $3,000 grant to the effort to do an engineering study on the bridge, which Blue Earth County closed last year due to concerns it was no longer safe.

Finally, on Dec. 21, the bridge became officially historic.

“It is now on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Lisa Lindberg, one of the Amboy residents hoping to save the bridge that spans the Blue Earth River at County Road 147.

Next comes the preliminary engineering study that will examine the costs associated with rehabilitating and reopening the bridge.

“We have an engineer hired,” Lindberg said. “He’s ready to go.”

So are the area’s legislators, assuming the price is right. Sen. Julie Rosen of Fairmont and Rep. Tony Cornish of Good Thunder are interested in seeking preservation funds in the 2010 legislative session if the engineering work is done in time, Lindberg said.

“Sen. Rosen and I are both convinced that this is a perfect fit for these legacy funds,” Cornish said last fall. “... But neither one of us know if we can get them.”

The grants will allow the engineering to be done that will give Cornish and Rosen more facts on which to base their funding requests.

County officials doubt that the bridge, estimated at about 130 years old, can be rehabilitated enough to carry modern farm equipment and don’t believe money should be spent on the bridge if the finished project is limited only to lighter vehicles. The county, however, has agreed to postpone any final decision on the bridge as the various alternatives are explored.

Cornish believes the county is overstating the level of disrepair and is hopeful the bridge can be restored at a reasonable cost.

“I don’t believe that the bridge is gonna fall into the river or that it’ll take that much money to refurbish it,” he said.

For Lindberg, the December gifts are welcome — demonstrating that others who’ve looked at the bridge agree that it’s worth preserving. Whether it ultimately is saved remains uncertain.

“It’s far from done,” she said. “Far from done.”

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