Nevada County Supervisors have voted to use eminent domain if necessary to secure an easement to make improvements to the Maybert Road Bridge. The Bridge is located 3 miles east of the Town of Washington on a dirt road that crosses Canyon Creek near the Yuba River. The road is county maintained on the West side and a US Forest Service road on the East side. Nevada County Chief Civil engineer Joshua Pack says the Bridge has had a myriad of safety issues. Engineers recommended closure of the bridge in 1983 but the county was able to keep it open with significant maintenance efforts.

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Nevada County has secured a Federal grant to replace the bridge and has already spent 380 thousand dollars of the grant on design and environmental work. Before the construction can begin the county needs access to additional property on the west side of the bridge with is currently owned by Michael Stewart.

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For Stewart it’s not so much giving up a little piece of land, but what the bridge expansion would bring.

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Stewart argues that the bridge improvement will increase traffic and development and that will increase the fire risk.

Stewart was offered $500 dollars for the patch of land, an offer he refused from the County. County Supervisors last week adopted a resolution of necessity determining the public interest and necessity to acquire the easement. The next step could be a trial for the county to execute a taking of the land by eminent domain.

Click here to listen to Mike Stewart

If the county is successful in securing the easement, construction could begin in 2016.