One of the nation’s top experts on covered bridges recently traveled to Kentucky to evaluate the Grange City Covered Bridge, officials said Wednesday.

Arnold Graton of Arnold M. Graton Associates of New Hampshire, who has been instrumental in the restoration of some of the other historic covered bridges in the commonwealth, consulted with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Engineers on how to rescue the bridge from collapse.

During his visit, Graton discussed several options with engineers as well as inspected the bridge.

Over the years, due to the constant raining and flooding of Fox Creek, erosion has cause the structural integrity of one of the the bridge’s abutments to falter, officials said last fall.

The 80-foot-long bridge was built in the mid-1860s and features a yellow-pine timbers in double-shouldered braces, according to information from Kentucky Tourism. It was likely built by the same contractor who constructed Ringos Mill Covered Bridge several miles up Fox Creek.

The bridge was originally double-sided with yellow poplar, according to information on Wikipedia, and is a good example of Theodore Burr’s 1814 patented truss design that employs multiple king-posts. Patent bridges were the “bread and butter” of early engineers who typically received one dollar per linear foot of bridge construction for use of the patented design, the web site reads.

The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The bridge was closed to traffic in 1968.

“We don’t have any specific course of action at this time,” KYTC District 9 spokesperson Allen Blair said Wednesday, “Engineers continue to discuss several options to try to secure the structure in the short term and work toward its preservation.”

“It’s going to be a challenge, but KYTC is committed to seeing that the job is done right. And we know this: It’s in good hands,” Blair said.

The bridge has been barricaded further to prevent anyone from getting too close to the bridge which looks to be in imminent danger of collapsing.