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What started as a routine preservation project quickly turned into a years-long process filled with historic design hurdles and environmental hold ups.

This project was designated as a historic structure, which slowed the initial design down, and then from there there was an environmental delay with the hellbender study that had to get done.”

Eric Hilty, Jefferson County Engineer

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — Fayette County Engineer Jason Little hosted his annual engineer’s banquet Thursday, March 12, for township trustees, fiscal officers and several elected officials at the Mahan Building at the Fayette County Fairgrounds.

Built in 1969, the bridge was reconstructed in 1989 and is now considered structurally deficient, said Betsy Horton, spokeswoman for the Butler County Engineer’s Office.

The three-span bridge will be replaced with a single-span box beam structure. The project includes relocating the waterline, widening roadway approaches, installing a 10-foot-wide raised sidewalk on the north side of the bridge, and upgraded guardrails.

“From an engineering and maintenance standpoint, we prefer a single-span box beam structure rather than a three-span bridge,” said Greg Wilkens, Butler County engineer.

SUMMIT COUNTY — Summit County Engineer Alan Brubaker announced the winners of the 2026 Miniature Bridge Building Competition (MBBC), held March 4 at the Summit County Fairgrounds in Tallmadge. This year’s event marked the 25th anniversary of the competition, a milestone celebrating a quarter century of inspiring local high school students to explore engineering through hands-on design and construction.
The 2026 competition saw record participation with 37 teams from 18 schools — a significant increase from last year’s 28 teams. Students from Summit County schools also included programs from the Four Cities Educational Compact, Akron STEM High School, Bio-Med Science Academy, Akron Early College High School and Six District Compact. Each team, made up of two to three students, spent months designing and constructing miniature bridges that were tested for strength, efficiency and structural performance during the competition.