Demolition of the 113-year old Maple’s Mill bridge halted Monday when adjacent property owners charged the county with trespassing.

“They (the county) did not have signed easements from the property owners,” said Cindy Duwa who has led efforts to save the Hickory Avenue Bridge for the last four years.

“When the county closed the bridge this spring, they vacated 30 feet on either side. That’s private property that went back to the landowners. When they showed up Monday, they were trespassing.”

Duwa said she asked the crew if they had an easement, which they did not, and then told them they were trespassing and had to leave.

“They did. But not before I insisted they put back the planks they had taken out.” She also warned that a lawsuit would be filed if the crew did not leave.

Duwa, whose property is just north of the bridge, said the county would not fare any better from the south.

“That’s owned by Sterling Schweitzer and he won’t let them on his property either,” Duwa said.

County Attorney Barbara Edmondson, who was contacted Monday by Duwa, said the county “road vacating was to allow the property owners time to come up with an alternative plan and possibly to be able to buy the bridge.”

She stressed that the county “wants to resolve this peacefully,” and hopes to meet with the land owners to determine “what they would want for right of access.”

Edmondson stressed that the lack of obtaining easements from the property owners was an oversight.

“We were unaware there was a problem, and did not believe there would be a problem with easements,” she added.

She said the supervisors’ action came because the bridge was labeled unsafe by a bridge consultant, as well as by the county engineer.

Duwa said that the property owners offered to buy the bridge, “but they won’t sell it to us.”

She added that since closing the Mapel’s Mill Bridge, the county “has closed two more (on Orange Ave. and Redwood Ave.) and sold those to the nearby property owners for like a dollar. But they won’t sell to us. That’s discrimination.”

However, Duwa said that later the county engineer told her “they would sell it if we gave them $40,000 for the planks.”

The bridge has been an issue since 1995 when it suffered structural damage when a main support truss was struck by a car. The county later sued those involved, a case that was settled only last year. However, the insurance settlement was insufficient to enact repairs that would meet today’s bridge standards.

As a result, the county supervisors moved to close and remove the bridge, something that led to protests from the area residents. In fact, during a meeting in April, residents cited the additional mileage as a serious safety factor since it would take emergency personnel longer to reach them.

Duwa said that by using the bridge, “it’s only 1.5 miles to Highway 22.” Without the bridge, it is 6.5 miles.

This summer, there were further problems when the bridge on W38 (Gingko Avenue) was replaced, adding even more miles.

“It still isn’t finished,” said Duwa, who added, “I was told it would be ready in November, a full month later than they had planned.”

Neither Duwa nor any of the other bridge proponents plan to have the bridge open for traffic. They simply want to save it.

“It’s the oldest bridge in Washington County,” said Duwa, who has done considerable research on the structure.

Contract for the bridge was let February 25, 1886, calling for a 120 ft. structure with wrought iron trusses to be completed by August 1. Total cost, including the bridge approaches was $3,729.41, a sizable expenditure for that time, noted Duwa.

At the time there was no Hickory Avenue and the bridge originally was referred to as the Hewitt Mill Bridge for the mill built by William Hewitt in 1851. Later, it took the Mapel’s Mill name when John Mapel took over the mill.

“It’s got a lot of history,” said Duwa.

She and her husband, Steve, already have installed gates at the north end of the bridge. If the residents are successful in saving the bridge, she said some repairs would be done, particularly installing guard rails. The bridge would never be open to traffic, except pedestrian and even that would be monitored closely, said Duwa.

“We are here all the time. We can see what goes on,” she said, stressing “we will police it.”