 Auglaize County Engineer’s Office worker Clay Rodeheffer finishes cement on a two-sided box for the county’s annual bridge program. Staff photo/Karen Campbell By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
With revenue stagnant and the cost of materials rising, no major county bridge reconstruction projects are planned for 2010.
Auglaize County Engineer Doug Reinhart said increasing costs of limestone and asphalt mean the county’s annual bridge replacement and rehabilitation will include 15 projects for a total cost of $543,491, including county labor and equipment.
He said actual cash outlay is to be closer to $216,000.
“Structures to be replaced include the use of county-manufactured precast concrete beams, three-sided concrete boxes and large diameter concrete pipe,” Reinhart said in presenting the proposed bridge program to Auglaize County Commissioners.
“Engineer’s Office personnel will use more than 450 cubic yards of concrete to cast various bridge and culvert sections at the county garage this winter in preparation for the program,” he said.
Reinhart said the order of replacement has yet to be determined and will depend on procurement of easements and the clearing of utilities.
Work scheduled for Buckland Holden Road bridge over the Auglaize River includes rehabilitation of outside beams, repair of the deck and waterproofing of the 205-foot span bridge for a cost of $46,485. The bridge was built in 1972.
“If we let it deteriorate further, we would have to get federal or grant funds for it,” Reinhart said. “It would cost $400,000 to replace it.”
He said between 2009 and 2010, they will have put $100,000 into the bridge on Buckland Holden Road but added another 40 years to its lifespan.
Crews plan to rehabilitate outside beams and waterproof the 47-foot Eisley Road bridge over the Prairie Creek at a cost of $23,899.
The bridge was built in 1967.
He said they could spend $47,000 alone just on the beams for the Eisley Road bridge if they were to replace it and this way they also are giving it another 40 years of life.
Reinhart estimates the cost to replace end beams, remove and galvanize steel center beams and widen the 97-foot span bridge by 3-feet on Townline Kossuth Road over Six Mile Creek is $72,901.
The bridges was built in 1973.
The bridge on Townline Kossuth could cost more than $25 million to replace.
Included in projects which are to use county-manufactured three-sided concrete boxes are Glynwood Road east of Townline Kossuth $36,309, 7th Street in Minster over the Miami & Erie Canal $91,032, Owl Creek Road one-half mile east of Kohler Road $42,563, Tri-Township Road one-third mile south of Southland Road $32,362, Tri-Township Road one-fourth mile south of Ohio 219 $14,214, Glynwood Road one-half mile west of Ohio 66 $14,214, Kossuth Amanda one-half mile west of Eisley Road $37,883, and Dues Ditch Culvert for the Miami & Erie Petition $67,017.
A large diameter reinforced concrete pipe is to be placed at Fairmont Road one-third mile east of Graham Road for an estimated cost of $39,827.
Bridge decks scheduled for waterproofing include Buckland Holden east of Ohio 65 for $9,166, Moulton Angle west of Moulton Knoxville Road for $9,361, and Holtkamp east of East Shelby Road for $6,228.
Waterproofing is to be done in conjunction with the paving program.
Reinhart said it is important to get to these bridges, which were built in 1962, 1984 and 1988, respectively, before they need even more rehabilitation driving costs up further.
“We are looking at bridges now that are 40- to 45-years old when there was no waterproofing,” Reinhart said. “Top abutments are flat which allows water to lay and salt to deteriorate bridges further.”
He said while there continues to be no posted restrictions for 10 years on any county bridges, they are going to have to look soon at ways to fund rehabilitation ffor several bridges with long spans that were built in the 1970s.
There were 46 bridges posted with weight restrictions in 1984. Eleven of those were in Washington Township.
“We’ve been working hard at this,” Reinhart said.
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