Holmes County’s Spellacy Covered Bridge seeks votes in national photo contest

Vote now through April 14 on DIGlobal’s Bridge as a Fashion Model competition page to support the Spellacy Covered Bridge, the 300-foot timber span on Wally Road that Holmes County has entered under the name C. Young. The contest window runs April 1–April 14, 2026, and winners will be announced April 15 at the Innovation Breakfast, with the top county engineering team receiving three iPads for in-field use.

The Spellacy Covered Bridge crosses the Mohican River near Arrow Point and Lost Horizon campgrounds and opened to traffic around September 1, 2023, after a county-led replacement of a deteriorated 1993 iron-truss span. The completed structure is about 300 feet long and 24 feet wide, built of southern pine glulam and rough-sawn southern pine timbers with a stated design life of roughly 125 years, and it reinterprets the covered-bridge form for a modern roadway context.

County officials list the Spellacy project as Holmes County’s largest infrastructure undertaking in recent memory. The project cost approximately $9.5 million and was funded with federal and state grants; the team fast-tracked work to meet a roughly 365-day schedule, and constructability and value-engineering reviews saved more than $1 million. Key partners on the project included Kokosing Construction as general contractor, Smolen Engineering for structural design, OHM Advisors for civil and overall team work, and specialty suppliers such as Portland Bolt.

The bridge has drawn attention beyond the county: project pages and coverage note national engineering recognition, including Engineering News-Record awards celebrated at a gala in New York, and the structure has been profiled by WoodWorks and other industry outlets. That professional attention matters locally because counties own and maintain a large share of the nation’s roadway network, roughly 46 percent of U.S. roads and 40 percent of U.S. bridges, giving county-level projects both civic and practical significance.

Holmes County leaders and tourism partners are promoting the contest entry to boost exposure for the Mohican River corridor and nearby businesses in Loudonville, Millersburg, and Berlin. Organizers say placing well in a national photo contest can translate into measurable increases in spring and summer visitation for campgrounds, outfitters, restaurants, and other hospitality employers that serve Mohican valley visitors.

To help, find the Bridge as a Fashion Model gallery on DIGlobal’s competition page, locate Holmes County listed alphabetically under C. Young, and cast one vote per person before April 14, 2026. Residents planning short visits can add Wally Road to a Mohican side-trip itinerary, parking carefully in designated areas and respecting private property. With the voting window closing soon, this single digital action offers a direct way to push Holmes County’s engineering work and local businesses onto a national stage.