Ed Herrick offers me a bright yellow reflective vest and starts rummaging around in his car. He pulls out a metal baton with a long chain attached to one end, and starts trudging toward a small bridge.
Franklin County鈥檚 bridge design engineer jokes it鈥檚 their 鈥渉igh tech鈥� device for detecting potholes.
鈥淵ou can see we鈥檝e patched it a lot here,鈥� Herrick says. 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 been patched a lot, there鈥檚 leakage that鈥檚 taken place.鈥�
He waits for a car to pass and walks out into the lane.
鈥淥ut here it looks like normal concrete, so you wouldn鈥檛 even think there was a problem,鈥� Herrick says as he starts dragging the chain back and forth. 鈥淚 know there鈥檚 a couple bad areas out here.鈥�
The fight over how much to increase Ohio鈥檚 gas tax has tied the General Assembly in knots for weeks. Talks , and lawmakers missed the midnight deadline to pass a transportation budget. They aren't set to resume bargaining again until Tuesday. Where they'll wind up is unclear, but it seems certain to be less than Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 original request of 18 cents per gallon.
While legislators debate, local governments are holding their breath, because a portion of gas tax revenue funds local infrastructure projects鈥攍ike this bridge in northeast Franklin County.
As Herrick drags the chain over the bridge deck, the sound changes noticeably over one area鈥攁 hollow, deeper sound.
鈥淒oesn鈥檛 look like there鈥檚 a bad spot there, but there鈥檚 crack and what has happened is, as the moisture goes down in, freeze, thaw, and it begins to delaminate the concrete,鈥� he says.
This Dublin-Granville Road bridge is small, just one lane each way over Rock Fork Creek, but the thoroughfare helps get people in New Albany to Route 161. It was built in 1951, and it shows.
Herrick explains it鈥檚 currently rated "poor." That鈥檚 a four on a nine-point scale, where zero is your bridge washing down the river.
Underneath the bridge, Herrick points to one end where the abutment鈥攖he place where the bridge meets the land鈥攔emains intact. But along much of the rest, concrete has fallen away, leaving brown vertical streaks of rusted rebar.
鈥淭his, visually you can tell, but much in the same way that you鈥檇 do the concrete deck up above, dragging with a chain, we do this type of stuff underneath,鈥� he says, swinging a hammer at the underside of the bridge. The sharp narrows peals give way to a flat clatter.
鈥淏ad concrete鈥攈ear the difference?鈥� he asks.
Franklin County Engineer Cornell Robertson says they鈥檙e planning on overhauling the bridge soon.
鈥淩ight now we鈥檙e looking to replace this is 2020," Robertson says. "We estimate it will cost $1.2 million and currently about $250,000 shy."
Robertson endorsed DeWine鈥檚 18-cent increase, the on the table, which came following a recommendation from a assembled by the governor. He explains that, while rates for gas tax revenue remained static for more than a decade, construction costs have only grown.
鈥淚 think they approached it in a manner that they felt was appropriate but not overboard," Robertson says. "So in other words, to go even lower than that we鈥檙e even more in a bind."
Robertson also liked the governor鈥檚 idea of tying the gas tax to inflation. That proposal, however, was immediately thrown out by the Ohio General Assembly. Robertson notes there's far more than just this bridge in need of repair鈥攈is office oversees almost 360 bridges across the county.
鈥淔orty-eight are over 100 years old, 108 are over 75 years old, 13 are rated poor and 35 are rated fair,鈥� Robertson rattles off from memory. 鈥淪o those two groups of bridges are the ones that are next in line for either rehabilitation or replacement. We watch those very, very closely and we鈥檙e trying to get those designed and funding accounted for, for their repair.鈥�
Until the legislature approves a final transportation budget, Robertson will be waiting for a while longer.
