The City of Vine Grove has closed the Otter Creek Road Bridge after an inspection of the bridge found significant deterioration.
Vine Grove Mayor Pam Ogden said the inspection was part of the city’s process for applying for state and federal grant funding to repair the Otter Creek Road, Saint Andrews Drive, and Creekvale Drive bridges.
“We found out that the Otter Creek Bridge that we just closed wasn’t on the state registry,” Ogden said. “I do not know why, and then it had to be put on the state registry in order for us to ask for federal grants, so the actual bridge was inspected by the state and when the state inspected it, I received a letter last Thursday, very late in the evening, telling us that we had five days to close the bridge.”
Ogden said a structural engineer confirmed the state inspector’s assessment on Sunday, so she had the bridge closed Monday. She said the city is working hard on finding the funding to replace the bridge as soon as possible.
“It’s a $1.5 million investment to replace that bridge,” Ogden said. “It is not something that we have right now at the city to fund ourselves. It’s in such bad shape that the entire bridge has to be replaced.”
Ogden said the safety of residents is the city’s top priority, and the city will work as quickly as they can to get the work on the bridge done, but no timeline is in place at this time. Follow the Vine Grove City Hall Facebook page for updates.
