Osage Creek Bridge construction nearly complete
The county also has plans to take care of all their structurally deficient bridges over the next few years
The county also has plans to take care of all their structurally deficient bridges over the next few years
The county also has plans to take care of all their structurally deficient bridges over the next few years
We’re now just a week or so away from Benton County’s longest bridge reopening, and county officials say they’re whittling down their list of structurally deficient bridges.
Built in 1935, the Osage Creek Bridge carried old Highway 68 over the creek in southern Benton County, several years ago it was deemed structurally deficient and needed replaced, that work has been ongoing since October 2020, but now it’s nearly done and the results are striking.
40/29 News caught up with County Engineer Josh Beam for a tour of the new 502-foot long span
“This bridge is night and day compared to the old bridge, this bridge is built to all of today's standards, it’s got more shoulder width on it which was one of the issues we were having with the old bridge, a number of vehicles were hitting the railing and it had to be replaced several times,” Beam said.
The new bridge was built using 80% federal funds and 18% state aid, Benton County chipped in the remaining 2% of the costs. 40/29 caught up with Judge Barry Moehring who tells me the county began tackling bridge issues in 2017 and will soon be free of structurally deficient bridges in the next few years.
“We’ve really done our best, we’ve hired a county engineer, which was the first time we had one, we’ve gone from 14 or 15 at that time, now we’re in the low single digits, and what’s more important is the couple or three that we have left, they’re on a plan to get them all non structurally deficient in the next couple of years," Moehring said.
Some of those bridges include the 175-foot Wagon Wheel Road Bridge over Spring Creek, which will be bid out in the next month or so.
Design work is also planned on the 52-year-old Columbia Hollow Bridge spanning Columbia Hollow Creek.
Work is also scheduled soon for the 40-foot Robinson Road bridge that’s been handling traffic since 1930.
Finally, the Coon’s Hollow Bridge, also built in 1930 is set for replacement. The devastation under the bridge from recent flooding is apparent.
County officials tell 40/29 that within the next week or so, they plan on having what’s called a soft opening, but AR-DOT, which did most of the construction is going to have a ribbon-cutting here, with director Lorie Tudor, coming up in the middle or later part of June.