Closed bridge is creating problems for one 95-year-old woman

95-year-old Belva Smith says all she wants to do is to visit her daughter.  But Belva lives on the east side of the Scenic River Road Bridge and her daughter lives on the west side.  After a state inspector looked at the bridge earlier this summer, he ordered the bridge closed to all traffic.  At first there was enough room for Belva to squeeze through on her golf cart, but now she says a "very large cement block" has blocked access to the bridge.

She spoke with county officials Monday about the situation, but they all gave her the same answer as supervisor John Beard: "We just can't allow traffic."  County Board Chair John Logsdon told her "Close it means close it."  County Engineer Lee Bjerke said the county has had closed bridges fall down in the past.  He told Belva Smith that the Scenic River Road Bridge is "very, very old" and that the county couldn't be responsible for people getting injured if they were on the bridge when it fell down.

Smith says it's a 7-mile detour around the bridge now.  County supervisor Mark Kuhn said he knows the feeling—he farms at two farms 10 miles apart.  And Logsdon said road work in Ossian last summer forced him to take an 18-mile detour to a Casey's store that was just four blocks from his home.