Residents urge county to consider future of Stone Bridge

     After several years of silence regarding Ely’s Stone Bridge/Stone Bridge Road outside of Monticello, the topic came up during the Jan. 12 Jones County Supervisor meeting.

     Keith Stamp, a resident off of Stone Bridge Road, addressed the Jones County Supervisors and County Engineer Derek Snead on the future of the historic Stone Bridge.

     Ultimately, Stamp urged the county to continue the conversations with the public on the future of the bridge. He also wants to see them “develop a plan to re-open Stone Bridge to public transportation and preserve the natural resources and tourism potential of the area.”

     Stamp said while he was never involved in past conversations about Stone Bridge, he has kept up on the news via the local newspaper.

     “I’m wondering about the current state and ongoing state (of the bridge),” he said.

     Stamp said when you Google local tourist attractions, Stone Bridge comes up as number two.

     “It has some value apparently,” he said of its popularity.

     Stamp also inquired as to why the county gave management of the bridge over to the Historic Preservation Commission.

     Supervisor Joe Oswald explained that the Commission is an arm of the county, and its members are appointed by the board of supervisors.

     Oswald said there was a Friends of Stone Bridge group a few years ago, which ran as a private group. The members helped to raise money for bridge repairs.

     Stamp said he’s been in contact with Rose Rohr, chair of the Commission, and she has plans to write a grant, due Feb. 1, for funding to maintain Stone Bridge.

     “Without a doubt, there’s been a decline in the bridge,” Stamp said of its current condition. “It’s not improving.”

     Stamp said that it doesn’t make much sense to have a bridge in disrepair like this on a usable hard surface road.

     “I know you have a lot to deal with now, but periodic reports on where things are (would be helpful),” added Stamp of hearing from the county of its intent. “You’ll have to budget for a large project, but in the intermediate, can other things be done (to maintain the bridge)?”

     Stamp said keeping Stone Bridge closed 1 mile outside of a 3,500-resident community makes no sense.

     “It deserves some attention. We need a commitment from the board on where things are going.”

     Oswald said he’s talked with locals who are actually happy with the fact that the bridge is closed because it’s reduced the traffic count on Stone Bridge Road.

     Stamp said if the county wishes to keep the bridge closed, can something be done in the area concerning tourism. “It’s an eye sore now,” he commented.

     Supervisor John Schlarmann felt not taking action would be a step backwards. “It’s going to keep getting worse.”

     Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach said Stone Bridge has come up in the past and there hasn’t been anyone to speak in favor of doing something.

     “I know what direction I’d like to go,” said Zirkelbach. “Now we have two new supervisors who got a lot of input on the campaign trail.”

     Assistant Engineer Todd Postel said their original idea was to build a structure around Stone Bridge, leaving the historic stone arches in place. He said there was also talk of establishing a conservation area nearby as well.

     “That lingered on for quite some time,” Postel recalled. “If we do something, we need to think about safety first and foremost.” Postel said the county would need to acquire additional right of way to do any sort of project out there.

     Snead said Stone Bridge has required continuous perpetual maintenance.

     “There is no way to 100 percent eliminate its deterioration,” Snead said. “To continually throw money at it takes away from other areas of the county. That’s why we closed it.”

     Snead added that the supervisors’ idea of handing over management of the bridge to Historic Preservation gave that group the chance to research potential possibilities into the future of the bridge.

     “There hasn’t been a lot of traction, and money is always the biggest thing,” said Snead. He said it’s “extremely unlikely” that the private sector would help to fund the restoration of the bridge.

     Supervisor Ned Rohwedder said in the past, there was a lot of enthusiasm regarding Stone Bridge. In the past few years, it’s died down.

     “We really thought Historic Preservation would pick up the ball and run with it,” commented Rohwedder. “It’s been off the radar for a while.”

     Snead said the bridge is not in compliance with current DOT specs in terms of a modern and safe structure. Even if the bridge were to be open to pedestrian traffic, there are certain requirements it has to meet before that could be allowed.

     “It’s not quite as easy as opening it up,” Snead said.

     Snead and Postel said they would share their past proposals concerning Stone Bridge during the Jan. 26 road program public hearing.

     “Since it closed, it hasn’t come up at our road hearings,” noted Snead. “That’s one reason it hasn’t progressed. It’ll come down to whether the majority want to save a historic structure and keep putting money into it.”

     Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach said the last time it was discussed, a figure of $7.4 million was thrown out in terms of rehabbing the bridge.

     “That would take away from other projects,” said Zirkelbach.

     He added that he gets questions from the public asking why so much money would go into fixing Stone Bridge but no other structures throughout Jones County.

     “It has to be asked,” continued Zirkelbach. “We have a lot of projects and we have to be frugal with our money.”

     “It’ll be nice to have traffic going through there again,” said Schlarmann of wanting to see it re-opened.

     Stamp said he’s talked to a handful of people in her neighborhood who want to see Stone Bridge preserved. “People don’t know if that’s even feasible.”

     “There hasn’t been a lot of discussion because there has been no action by the board of supervisors,” added Tony Amsler, also a resident near Stone Bridge Road. “It needs to be on your agenda for public conversations to move forward.”

     The board said they would address Stone Bridge during the public hearing on Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m.