Work is under way to get the first of Barton County’s stressed bridges back to normal — and ahead of schedule — County Administrator Richard Boeckman announced at Monday’s Barton County Commission meeting.
Boeckman said the work would begin on the Radium Road bridge Monday and that it would begin with L&M Contractors using special equipment to realign the bridge pieces, preparing for the most difficult part of the project.
The county administrator said it was anticipated that the crews would start, today, to work on removing the pins that had failed earlier this summer.
After the damaged pins are drilled out, the new hanging structures can be put in place and the bridge can be reopened to traffic.
“We’re even further ahead than I’d hoped we would be,” Boeckman commented Monday.
When county officials moved ahead with this project, the hope was that the work could be done to have the Radium bridge open in time to bring in the irrigated corn and soybeans. Keeping ahead of the original schedule is, therefore, good news for a lot of farmers in this area.
Boeckman added that work is also progressing rapidly on another major county artery.
He said the work is progressing well on the Boyd Road curves, that the base work is being completed and paving should begin soon.
It appears that work will be done ahead of schedule, too, which could also be important in the coming fall harvest.
In the meantime, the Ellinwood bridge remains open to one-way traffic and that project will be under taken after the Radium Road bridge is done.
The commissioners, in order to move the projects ahead as quickly as possible, accepted a proposal from L&M Contractors for the Radium Road bridge to be done for $24,500 and the Ellinwood bridge for $24,800. By keeping the projects under $25,000, the county was able to move ahead without having to expend more time on a bidding process, it was explained earlier.