POINT PLEASANT, WV (WOWK) – People in the Brooke Drive community near Point Pleasant say a dilapidated bridge is putting lives and property at risk. They reached out to 13 News for help but we hit some of the same dead ends they’ve been running into.

“If somebody didn’t know about this guardrail being loose they could get too close and drive over the side which is about 10 to 15 feet deep,” said Nelson Newell.

Newell has to cross the bridge to visit his daughter and grandchildren. But they are the ones he’s most worried about.

“It makes me worry. I’m concerned and you never know what is going to happen. You think it won’t happen to me but it does happen,” Newell said.

He said the bridge is the only way into and out of the neighborhood. They’ve been on a mission for years now to get something done as conditions just keep getting worse.

Jeremy Boles owns a house on Brooke Drive. He took it upon himself to put up a sign to caution drivers crossing the bridge.

He said fire trucks won’t cross the bridge.

“I understand why they won’t cross,” Boles said.

Point Pleasant Fire Chief Jeremy Bryant confirmed that the bridge isn’t safe for fire apparatus. He said if there were a fire they’d have to pull hose across the creek.

Boles and Newell say it is not only putting lives in jeopardy it is also making it nearly impossible to sell any home on Brooke Drive.

“You’ve got 12 houses back here with zero resale value,” Boles said.

But they say the most frustrating thing is that they can’t get help anywhere.

“The city says it is the county’s problem, county says it is the state’s problem, the state rolls back around and says it is the city’s problem,” Boles said.

13 News made the same round of calls with a similar result. The West Virginia Division of Highways told 13 News the bridge is not a state owned bridge. We are going to keep pressing for answers to see what can be done to fix that bridge.