At the request of the highway department, the Starke County Council approved the spending of $135,000 for bridge inspections throughout the county. In total, 67 bridges are to be inspected, with the expense coming out of the county’s cumulative bridge fund, which can only be spent on bridges.
The bridge inspections are a necessary expense, especially when given the current state of the bridges in Starke County. Three bridges were recently closed, and three others are in danger of being reduced to one-lane to allow for repairs.
The Council also approved the spending of $265,000 to begin preliminary work on bridge 156, which is the bridge over the Robbins Ditch on Range Road. The total cost for this project is expected to be around $1,038,000 with the county’s match being $238,000.
The total cost for this project may change, as the Commissioners have been discussing other options with Lee Nagai, a bridge engineer who has proposed a cheaper method of repair for the bridge that would not only cost less, but would allow the bridge to be repaired significantly faster.
