Crawford County’s 38 bridges are inspected by an engineer on a regular basis and Steve Scott, county maintenance director, said Friday he is confident they are safe despite the fact that many are very old.

“Overall, they (the bridge conditions) are improving,” said Owen Beachy, engineer with The EADS Group, which is the county’s contracted engineer.

“Crawford County has a lot of old antiquated trusses from the late 1800s,” he said, explaining the structure on many of the bridges. “Crawford County has been pro-active in preparing for replacement or repair.

“If we think there is a significant (unsafe) condition we will close the bridge down,” said Beachy.

He said while a bridge may be listed as having “structural deficiencies,” that “doesn’t make it not safe.”

Scott said while the engineer does the structural inspections, the maintenance crews are watchful for any problems which may surface and make repairs or notify the engineer for further inspections.

While all but a few of the county-owned bridges are open, many have weight limits of 3 tons, which is the next step to closing a bridge, said Scott.

Crawford County has seven county bridges “under agreement” or pending agreements for replacement, said Beachy. Estimated cost of replacements will be close to $15 million. Construction is to be done between 2008 and 2013.

Those bridges and estimated costs are:

n Mead Avenue, Meadville, $7 million.

n Tower Road, Spring Township, $1 million. It was closed after an overweight vehicle tried to cross it.

n Eddy Road, Athens Township, $750,000.

n Smith Road, Summerhill Township, $750,000.

n Wightman near Conneaut Outlet, East Fairfield Township, $750,000.

n Kreitz Road, Cambridge Springs, $750,000.