We will continue to raise awareness until solution is found to dangerous bridge

To the Editor:

First, thank you so much for reporting on our situation trapped across a dangerous bridge in a bad situation. After four years of waiting for the bridge to be repaired, it was long overdue that I and the other homeowners break our silence. We and Dingman Township had been told by the bridge owner she would fix the bridge over four years ago.

But it was not done. The bridge only became worse and worse to the point now we can’t get any services to our homes. We had no choice but to take our situation public in hopes a local or state agency can help all of us. My biggest concern is emergency services. The last time an ambulance crossed the bridge to respond to our home for my husband was Feb. 2021. After that, the bridge damage sign went up. No-truck signs were already posted.

My husband is battling cancer. He’s had two emergency transports to Newton in the past few months, and we are very grateful for the response to save his life. We are very concerned. Can emergency services continue? As now a sign says, the bridge is damaged, and it’s in worse condition than four years ago. The other letter to the editor is misleading that the bridge can be fixed if others pay their shares. We don’t have any shares. She is the sole owner of the bridge and two of the houses across the bridge. The other three households have no ownership or share of the bridge.

The bridge is the property of the bridge owner, and we all have deeded access across it. I bought my home in 1991. The last house sold and bought in here was about five years ago. When we all bought homes we had lawyers, bank mortgages, title companies, insurance companies, etc., for the purchase of our homes. The bridge was maintained by the bridge owners. We are not an association or an HOA or a road maintenance situation. We all own our own property, and we all maintain what we do own. We all just wanted to make that clear.

This has never been an attack on the bridge owner. We had no idea why the bridge wasn’t repaired. We are trying to raise public awareness for all of us here, as we are all in danger. I would like to thank the reporter who did an accurate job of reporting what my neighbors and I are dealing with and our fears we live with daily of crossing a damaged bridge. Besides our worry over emergency services, we can’t get our septics pumped, can’t get Fed-Ex or UPS deliveries. Fed-Ex is a carrier of specialty chemo drugs and medical supplies my husband needs. I have sent to a friend’s house in town and I pick up there. We can’t get any service trucks for needed home or property repairs, we can’t get tree services, we can’t get garbage service, we can’t get fuel deliveries, we can’t get utility trucks to cross.

We are about 500 feet above the Sawkill. We are not close to the bridge for emergency services, and our road is in poor condition. I have maintained the section of road I own up top, but from the bridge up the hill is property of bridge owner. I can’t even maintain my section of road up top now as I can’t get gravel across bridge. My home and the homes of my two neighbors border federal parklands. People hike and hunt those public lands all year ‘round, and when it’s dry weather we are terrified. We had evacuated my family and our seven houses once in the ‘90s, when a controlled park service burn became uncontrolled and jumped 209 and went up to our ridge. Every fire company in the tristate responded and were at my house on the road over the bridge. The wind shifted just as the fire crested over the ridge, and we were all very lucky. I am very aware how vital a fast response time is in a health emergency or a threat to property, and seconds count.

I want to thank the Milford Fire Department and all the utility companies who responded to my letters so far and who are all looking into this situation right now. I want to thank all the wonderful people in our community who have reached out to all of us with concern and who are trying to help us find a solution. I want to thank channel 13 news who did an interview with us and Representatives Rosemary Brown and Mike Peifer who are looking into this situation and all the others now involved. We will continue to raise public awareness of the danger we are in until a solution is found.

Suzanne and David Geissler

Dingman Township