PEDRO — Demolition is expected to begin after the first of the year on the old Lake Vesuvius Bridge.

Wayne National Forest officials met with Bluegrass Contracting Corp. out of Lexington, Ky., last week for a pre-work meeting, according to Cindy Henderson of the forest service. In November Bluegrass Contracting received the contract to build a new bridge at the entrance of the Lake Vesuvius Recreational Area.

In July 2010 heavy rains washed out the structure at the lake’s entrance on County Road 29, off State Route 93. In the fall of that year, a temporary steel structure was erected downstream of the location of the original bridge to allow area residents access.

“It’s all going to be weather dependent,” Henderson said. “All during the winter they are looking to just do kind of basics of demolishing of the old bridge and starting on steel pile driving and stone work at the new location.”

The original bridge was a Civilian Conservation Corps project built in the 1930s. The new structure will feature a single span, instead of the double of the older bridge. Cost was expected to be between a half-million to a million dollars. Bluegrass Contracting presented a bid of $985,430 for the project.

“Until we can have temperatures where pouring concrete is actually an option, they are not going to be building a new bridge,” Henderson said. “They will be working on the demolition of removing the old one.”