Pulaski County’s 74 bridges are in good shape, according to engineers, but the county’s looking to Community Crossings grants to keep them that way. Representatives from United Consulting discussed their latest round of bridge inspections with the county commissioners last week.
Jeff Larrison told the commissioners that the condition of Pulaski County’s bridges is comparable to that of those in other counties. Still, he says there are some areas to keep an eye on. “Your percentage is a little over [the state average], as far as bridges over 50 years old, and that’s maybe the number to look at, as far as now’s the time to really pay attention to stuff, as far as those go,” he said. “Your percentage of posted bridges, though, is below the state average, so that’s good. They have load restrictions, as far as what can go across them. And you have a lower percentage, as far as sufficiency ratings less than 50, and less than 50’s where you start really running into problems with bridges.”
A few bridges have been targeted for replacement in the coming years. Topping that list is the bridge on County Road 700 North over Bogus Run. Larrison said that’s set to be replaced, thanks to funding from the Community Crossings program. It provides 50-50 matching grants to local governments for various transportation projects.
County Highway Superintendent Terry Ruff also hopes to rehabilitate the bridge on County Road 400 East over Mill Creek, during a future phase of Community Crossings. “That might open up again this year, so we’ll have to see what transpires,” he said. “It helps out a lot. It’s about half the cost. But we don’t really know what all is going to be available this year, so we’ll try.”
United Consulting believes the bridge on 400 East has a good chance at Community Crossings funding, due to the amount of traffic that uses it.
