The Benner Road bridge located at the southern end of New Franklin on the Lawrence Township border, which has been closed since June 2020, has officially reopened today, July 12, 2022.
In June 2020, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) deemed the bridge to be in unsafe condition. New Franklin inherited the bridge in poor condition from Summit County in 2006 when Franklin Township became the City of New Franklin. Knowing the bridge was deteriorating, the City submitted an application in 2019 for funding from the Ohio Municipal Bridge Program, and the application was accepted. The grant funded 95% of the project costs. The funds were not released until late 2021, so construction could not begin until recently. The City committed its share of the $1 million project to the engineering costs so that once the grant funding was received, work could begin immediately.