A historic bridge near Camden closed indefinitely Friday because its condition was determined to be unsafe.

The bridge on Seven Mile Road, between U.S. 127 and Eidson Road, may be closed for up to a year before funding can be in place to rehabilitate it, according to Preble County Engineer Kyle Cross.

“It’s one of the only structures of its type in the country,” Cross said. “We’re doing everything we can to preserve it.”

The steel truss bridge, built in 1929, spans 150 feet over Seven Mile Creek, but it is not among the 61 bridges deemed “structurally deficient” in Preble County, according to a recent study by Transportation for America.

The bridge is located on Seven Mile Road. A resident alerted the engineer’s office on Thursday of the bridge’s deteriorating condition and the engineer’s office shut it down after inspecting it on Friday.

Cross said they’ve been aware of the deterioration and have been monitoring the bridge’s condition regularly. He said it’s a historical bridge and getting federal funds to fix it and others in the county has been a priority since he took office in March.

Preble County is known for its historical bridges and tours are available of the county’s 29 covered spans.

As with other historical bridges preserved in Preble County, the Seven Mile Road bridge may be rebuilt in a park, said Jane Lightner, executive director of the Preble County Historical Society.

“There are very few steel truss bridges left in the country. They’re disappearing,” Lightner said. “Hopefully the structure of the bridge can be salvaged and reused.”

Preble County ranks ninth among Ohio’s 88 counties based on the highest to lowest percentage of bridges deemed “structurally deficient,” according to the Transportation for America study.

The study states that one out of every 10 bridges that motorists in Ohio cross each day are likely to be deteriorating to some degree.