The Marshall County Commissioners learned this week they have twenty bridges that need to be replaced or rehabilitated in the next 10 years.
Phil Beer from USI told the commissioners, “Your bridges are in pretty good shape, but your funding is not.” In a handout he listed the bridges and the recommended repairs after completing the most recent bridge inspection.
For 2016 the bridges including the North Hickory Road bridge which is already on the way to being replace next year while the King Road Bridge over the Yellow River also needs to be replaced along with the North Union Road bridge over the Peter Sarber Ditch, and the East 7th Road Bridge over the Dausman Ditch needs a rehabilitation.
In 2017 the recommendation is to replace the bridge on North Queen Road over the Jesse McKesson Ditch.
There are two bridge replacements and 2 rehabs suggested in 2018. The bridge replacements are on West 11th Road and South Upas over the Yellow River. The rehab projects suggested are the Garro Street bridge and the East Jefferson Street bridge. The following year DLZ believes the South Apple Road Bridge over the Yellow Creek should be replaced.
In 2020 the Randolph Street bridge is projected to be replaced while 2021 has a replacement of the West 12th Road and the North Cedar Road bridges. The following year they suggest replacing the North Ule Trail bridge over the Jesse McKesson Ditch and the East 1st Street bridge over the Yellow River. Other bridges on the list for replacement are the North Jarrah Road bridge and the South Redwood Road bridge, both over the Yellow River.
Phil Beer from USI told the Commissioners the typical life span of a bridge is 50 to 55 years. In the late 60’s and early 70’s the county replaced 20 to 25 bridges and those are the ones that are beginning to fail.
Beer said the county’s cum bridge fund will run out of money in 2018. Commissioner Overmyer said, “We need to figure out how to generate more funds in the cum bridge fund which is funded on property tax.” He noted that their revenues haven’t increased at the rate that construction costs and wages have grown. He said doing a bond for a bridge project would not only save money by not having the federal requirements which increase a project drastically, we can also start and complete a project in much less time. Typically a federally funded bridge project takes 3 to 5 years.
