LISBON – Columbiana County Engineer Bert Dawson has decided on his next historical restoration project.

Dawson has obtained $500,000 in combined federal and state grant money to rehabilitate the McClellan Covered Bridge off Trinity Church Road in Center Township.

Built in 1871, the McClellan Covered Bridge spans a narrow section of the West Fork of the Little Beaver Creek. It was part of McClellan Road that once connected Wayne Bridge and Trinity Church roads, but the road was abandoned long ago and became part of woods and farm fields in this extremely rural part of the county.

“It’s like an old house. It’s saggy and some of the old timbers are bad,” Dawson. “It will really be nice when we get done with the rebuild.”

The only use the 53-foot-long bridge has seen in a long time is likely from the farmer on whose property it sits or covered bridge fans. The structure has fallen into disrepair and is closed to any form of public traffic, with yellow police tape covering both entrances.

Karen Browne, a professional engineer on Dawson’s staff, said they will be taking the same approach as with the Centennial Bridge on Eagleton Road in Salem Township, which was rehabilitated by the engineer’s office in 2002.

The Centennial Bridge was disassembled so they could make improvements to the bridge abutment. The 100-piece wooden frame structure was reassembled using new cut pieces as needed and then hoisted back into place.

“We plan to try and do what we did with Centennial Bridge,” Browne said. “I’m sure some of the wood will have to be replaced.”

The money for the project consists of $400,000 obtained by the engineer’s office from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program and $100,000 from the Ohio Public Works Program.

Assisting them will be retired Ashtabula County Engineer John Smolen. Ashtabula County has 18 covered bridges – the most in the state.

“He got to building a lot of these up there and became one of the leading covered bridge guys in the country,” Dawson said of Smolen. “He just designed a brand new bridge in Ashtabula County.”

McClellan Covered Bridge is among five covered bridges in the county and only one of two that remain in its original location, the other being Centennial Bridge. The others are the Malone Covered Bridge, which was relocated from Elkrun Township to Beaver Creek State Park, and the Churchill Road Covered Bridge relocated to the Lock 24 restaurant in Elkton. The fifth is a replica of the Sell Covered Bridge at Scenic Vista Park.

“This is the last one we have yet to do anything major to,” Dawson said of the McClellan Bridge.

Improvements will also include to the short road from Trinity Church Road to the bridge and the pull-off area where people can park when visiting the structure.

He said it is important to preserve these historic structures for obvious reasons – they are a direct link to our past – as well as the enjoyment they bring to others. Not only that, Dawson said these bridges are tourist attractions, drawing covered bridge enthusiasts from across the country.

“It’s a big deal,” he said.

Dawson’s historic restoration efforts go beyond covered bridges to historic steel truss bridges built about the same time. He also renovated the former Pittsburgh, Lisbon & Western Railroad depot in Lisbon and is doing the same with a decommissioned historic iron bridge that is being rebuilt at the county fairgrounds for use there.

Browne said the McClellan Bridge restoration will occur in 2016 because it likely will take most of next year to perform all of the state and federal environmental impact studies.