Muskingum County Bridge

Muskingum County engineers decided it was time to replace a dilapidated 50-year-old bridge. Rather than repairing the bridge the way they had for 50 years, a costly and timeless process, the decision was made to replace it with a contemporary, hot-dip galvanized steel bridge. Following a life-cycle analysis, it was determined that hot-dip galvanized was more cost-effective over time than other corrosion prevention systems. The promise of long-term freedom from maintenance was irresistible. County engineers kept the old bridge standing until construction was complete on the new bridge. Once the old bridge was taken down piece by piece, each piece was sandblasted, repaired and hot-dip galvanized. Because of the large size of the old bridge, Muskingum County was able to design and erect four like-new, smaller bridges from its components.