A bridge in southwest Minnesota has been closed over fears that it could collapse. The 73-year-old bridge crosses a creek on a gravel road northeast of Adrian.

Township officials have now blocked off the bridge to all traffic because they say it's so bad vehicles could fall through and that presents a big problem for farmers in the area, especially Andy Weiss who farms just down the road from the bridge.

Andy Weiss says, "It creates a lot of extra time, a lot of extra expense. Rather than going a quarter of a mile you are going 6 miles round trip, no it's 6 miles one way."

But township officials say with the timbers breaking below, it was a safety risk and closing the bridge was the only decision to could be made.

Diane Thier, a Nobles county commissioner says, "It was a very tough decision because you want to make it as convenient as possible for the farmers who work out there, but neither the township or the county can take on that liability."

But Weiss says it's a decision that should have been made a long time ago. He says the old bridge has been in need of fixing for years. Now that it's closed the state says they don't have money to fix it. Weiss says that's been the story with a number of bridges in the area.

Andy Weiss says, "You go back to the time when they built all those. You can't go and abandon all of them. Someday you have to go back and fix them."

But no money means no new bridge and that leaves Weiss in a bad place, and he says he isn't convinced the money will be coming anytime soon.

Andy Weiss says, "The biggest problem is going to be number one getting the money, that's going to be the tough part."

There are no plans to build a replacement bridge before next spring and there's talk that it might not be looked at even until next August.