Only one Cedar County bridge still needs repair
HARTINGTON — Carla Schmidt was in total disbelief.
When the floods bubbled and boiled across Nebraska last March, she was stranded at a state conference in Kearney.
Once she finally made it back to Cedar County and onto some of the county roads, Cedar County’s Road Dept. Superintendent couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
In many places, where a once smooth county road had stood, a pot-hole riddled cattle trail now existed.
In some other places, the road ditch had been widened or washed away, eating into the road bed itself.
Approaches to bridges were gone. Some bridges and culverts were totally washed away.
“You would go out and look at the roads, and all that stuff and just scratch your head. How in the world did it do this,” she said. “I thought, my God, we’ll never get all this fixed.”
When the flood waters finally receded some farmers in the St. James area found two to three foot mounds of sand where some of their fields and pastures had stood.
When county officials began looking at the damage, they counted 37 different reconstruction projects on the 2,000-mile stretch of county roads. At least five bridges either had to be repaired or replaced, as well.
When the damage was all totalled up, there was at least $1 million in road and bridge repair, said Cedar County Emergency Management Director Kevin Garvin. Of that, he has turned in $614,739 in expenses to FEMA so they can help with the cost.
This figure represents labor, equipment and materials costs to do the repairs, so far.
This figure only factors in costs FEMA has already said will qualify for reimbursement under the guidelines, he said.
The figure does not include any of the damage in Randolph, or Laurel or at the Cedar County Fairgounds, Garvin said.
The number doesn’t include any of the manpower, equipment or materials used to fix roads without first getting FEMA approval, either, Garvin said.
“We couldn’t sit there. As soon as the weather allowed, we started trying to get the roads open,” Schmidt said.
Despite Schmidt’s initial concerns, County crews and some contractors got to work and began to rebuild.
Just before Labor Day weekend Chalkrock Road was opened, meaning only one road was still closed.
That road, the Bow Valley Expressway north of Hartington, is scheduled to be completed this year. Cedar County commissioners plan to let bids on replacing the bridge on that road during their Feb. 11 meeting.
The Bow Valley bridge has been challenging to replace because the water washed away the approaches on both ends of the bridge and damaged a wing wall.
“FEMA wants you to put it back to pre-disaster condition, but there is no way we can do that with that bridge,” Garvin said. “There is a 20-foot chunk of ground missing at the approach on both sides.”
The Chalkrock road was particularly challenging because the water had cut a 15-foot deep path off the side of the road, meaning the road ditch and road bed had to be rebuilt
Garvin said these 37 projects don’t include repairs to state roads or city streets. Repairs to roads designated as Federal Aid Roads are not included either, he said.
The Federal highway Administration is picking up the tab to repair three different sections on these Federal Aid Roads, including the bottom road west of St. Helena.
In order to help speed the work along, the county took out a bond last year to have the funds to pay for repairs. That money will then be repaid once FEMA has paid their portion of the bills.