E16 bridge to be replaced
/A nice improvement to the area
This bridge on County Road E16 will be replaced during the coming construction season.
A bridge on Crawford County Road E16 is set to be replaced during the coming construction season.
The bridge in question is located two and ¾ miles west of the intersection of E16 and County Road L51.
It was built in 1967.
“The bridge deck condition is very poor on the current bridge and it has been steadily getting worse,” said Crawford County Engineer Paul Assman. “We’ve done some patching on it, but it’s served its time for us.”
Assman said the replacement project accomplishes two things: it removes a bridge in poor condition – and it removes a bridge from the county road system.
The replacement project will put a 10-foot by 10-foot twin box culvert in place of the bridge.
“We’re going to put in a concrete box culvert, so there won’t be bridge railing, an approach guardrail and all those associated features with it,” Assman said. “It will be a nice improvement in that area.”
The bridge does not currently have any weight restrictions.
“It’s still capable of carrying the loads but it’s near that point where it’s going to have to be posted,” he said. “We try to have bridges in that condition replaced before we have a load restriction.”
The replacement project will include grade control to the waterway.
“There will be a concrete flume on the outlet end (of the box culvert) that will address some of the grade differential in the stream channel in that particular area,” Assman said.
Dixon Construction Company, of Correctionville, submitted the winning bid of $874,128.06 for the project.
“We’re going to get cost-share reimbursement from the Hungry Canyons organization in the amount of $160,000, so that will help with the cost of the project,” Assman said.
Erosion control on the waterway under the bridge will be part of the replacement project.
The Hungry Canyons Alliance provides support stream channel erosion/degradation support for counties in the loess soils region of western Iowa.
“A large portion - 80% - of the cost comes from the Highway Bridge Program, which are federal dollars,” he said. “The balance of whatever’s left will come from the Farm to Market funds since it’s on a paved Farm to Market road.”
Assman said he could not yet provide a timeline for the project.
“Ideally, we’d like to start on it right away; as soon as the contractor is ready to go to work and we have the preconstruction conference,” he said. “We’d prefer to have this type of project done in the early part of the year – spring/summer – so that we’re not impacting harvest. That’s always our goal.”
He said the project will be done during the 2024 construction season.
“Hopefully on the front side of that as opposed to the back side of that,” he said.
E16 in the area of the bridge will be closed during the project.
Paved-road traffic will be routed to the north at County Road L51 to the east of the project area and at County Road L37 in Monona County to the west; detoured traffic will travel east/west on County Road D54 in Woodbury and Ida Counties.
See future editions of the Denison Free Press for information about when E16 will be closed.
Follow us on Facebook for the latest news and updates
