Caught between a rock and a hard place . . .

That’s how members of two Lincoln County governing bodies — theschool board and the supervisors — must be feeling as they dealwith the issue of weight limits on bridges.

Here’s the dilemma:

Fourteen bridges in Lincoln County with weight limits less than13,000 pounds are on school bus routes. An empty school bus canweigh up to 27,500 pounds. What to do?

The school district is now making plans to change some routes toavoid the bridges. That brings another set of problems due toadditional expense for the district and longer bus rides for somestudents.

While the supervisors must deal with the 14 bridges on busroutes, it was pointed out at their meeting this week that 86bridges are now eligible for replacement. Funds for bridge repairare limited, too.

It is going to take a lot of time and work by both boards tofind the best solution. Donald Case, school district transportationdirector, is currently working with bus drivers on some reroutes.The supervisors will look at their suggestions when deciding whatbridges to repair first.

This is an important job, and we hope both boards will rememberthat the bottom line here is not dollars — it’s the safety of theprecious cargo those school buses carry.