With the 2013 construction season quickly approaching, plans are in place across Belmont county for several big projects.


According to county engineer Fred Bennett, there are about a dozen different projects costing anywhere between $2 million and $3 million total.


Those projects include rehabbing two stone arch bridges, re-striping over 100 miles of road, changing the 35-year-old signals at the intersection of Mall and Banfield roads and building 10 new bridges.


"We have a real bridge problem. We still have 80 bridges that have load limits on them and we have a map on the wall that shows where all the bridges are at," Bennett said.


He added that there are 280 bridges in total to maintain along various county and township roads.


The county has received federal and state funding to help pay for some of the projects, but where does the rest come from?


In 2012, $2.3 million came from the gas tax and another $2.3 million from registration fees covering most of the $4.8 million budget.


From the gas tax, 46 cents per gallon helps pay for the projects, but Bennett said the amount they get is dropping.


"(That's because of) more efficient vehicles and some vehicles switching to the hybrids. They pay less gas tax because they are buying less gas," Bennett said.


And with the cost of projects increasing, Bennett said they are forced to limit how much they can do.


"You never had enough money to do what you really liked to do, but it's gotten a lot worse," he said.


Bennett clarified that the projects mentioned will happen this year since the funding has already been secured, but he said they haven't been able to do much paving because of the lack of money.


He said they do have money to patch potholes this spring.