NORTHUP — The Gallia County Engineer’s Office applied and was approved for the use of $1,274,640 (max) in federal funds toward the replacement of the Lincoln Pike Bridge in Northup.

The County Engineers Association of Ohio receives funds annually from the federal transportation bill to be disbursed to counties for replacing or rehabilitating deficient bridges.

In order to be federally eligible for bridge funding, a bridge can be on any public road and it must be greater than 20 feet in length. Also, the bridge must be classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete in the national bridge inventory and have a sufficiency rating of 80 or less for rehabilitation and less than 50 for replacement.

The Lincoln Pike bridge ranked high enough in the state as to receive funding for fiscal year 2015. If the environmental studies and preliminary engineering are completed before 2015, the project may have a chance of being moved up.

The estimated cost of the project in 2015 is $1,220,000 for construction and $122,000 for construction engineering. The federal funds are used for 80 percent of the total project cost and the remaining 20 percent match will use local funds from the county engineer’s office.

County Engineer Brett Boothe said his office plans to come up with 15 percent of the remaining 20 percent local match through a federal program called the Credit Bridge Program.

The existing steel truss bridge located over Raccoon Creek has an overall length of 191-1/2 feet and width of 20 feet. The existing structure is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.

“The proposed structure type has not yet been determined. However, the new structure will be an aesthetically designed structure for the area, with a minimum width of 24 feet,” Boothe said.