Commissioners approve bridge replacement project
HARTINGTON — Cedar County has approved the replacement of a bridge that is part of a two-project bundle with Knox County.
Carla Schmidt, Cedar County's highway superintendent, met with the board of commissioners on June 13 about the county's bridge replacement project.
The commissioners approved a bid of just over $1.1 million submitted by Herbst Construction Inc. of rural Le Mars, Iowa.
The bridge that will be replaced crosses over the Bow Creek on 883rd Road about 1.25 miles east of Hartington.
Schmidt previously described the current crossing – a 100-foot-long pony truss bridge built in 1973 out of concrete and steel – as 'structurally deficient.'
'It's outdated,' Schmidt said. 'It's load-rated. Right now, it's got a 13-ton weight limit on it.'
She noted pony truss bridges such as the one that is going to be replaced are typically older structures.
'It's difficult to get equipment and stuff down them because they're not as wide,' Schmidt said, comparing them to more modern bridges.
'This has got that big truss that goes way up and arches over,' she said. 'You can't even lift equipment high enough to get it over it.'
The new crossing will be a 130-foot-long, 28-foot-wide concrete-slab bridge that will have no weight limit.
The projected time period for work on this bridge replacement project has been set for January- May 2024.
'I didn't think that was a bad timetable – from January to May – considering it's the fairgrounds road, and the fair won't be till July,' Schmidt told the commissioners, noting the Cedar County Fair.
Cedar County has bundled its project together with one in Knox County through the Nebraska Department of Transportation's County Bridge Match Program because the new crossings will be similar structures.
Schmidt noted Cedar County will get reimbursed $250,000 of the cost of its bridge replacement project through the state DOT program.
The Knox County Board of Supervisors approved Herbst Construction's bid of just over $1.3 million on May 25 for a bridge replacement project.
The crossing that will be replaced is a steel truss bridge on 513th Avenue that spans the Ponca Creek just south of Highway 12, about three miles west of Verdel.
The current 101-foot-long crossing – known as the Shaw Bridge and built in 1976 – with a 12-ton weight limit will be replaced by a 150-foot-long concrete-slab structure that will not have a weight limit on it.
Work on this bridge replacement project is scheduled to take place between December 2023 and May 2024.