Starke County’s bridges are in excellent shape overall based on the latest round of inspections. Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler told the commissioners Monday the county has been making steady progress.
“Since the last round of inspections we’ve replaced a total of 12 bridges, and only one bridge went from sufficient to deficient. That’s a 47.1. A deficient bridge is a 50. So at the end of this year we’ll only have one bridge that’s deficient, and it will be a 47.1. If we get the matching funding from the state we might be able to do that this year,” Ritzler said.
That bridge is located on 100 East just north of 400 North over the Robbins Ditch. The current replacement schedule calls for design requests for proposals to be sent out in July.
Ritzler says only seven of the top 10 bridges on the replacement schedule are deficient.
“We always do our top 10 for the bridge replacements. Those bottom three, those bridges are not deficient yet, and we have those scheduled out for 2020, 2021 and 2022. They are in the 60s. About 10 years ago our average was about a 60. Now the 60s are on our list to replace, which is a good thing.”
Ritzler adds the county is on pace to accelerate the bridge replacement schedule.
“We originally planned to be done in 2020. It looks like we may be done either this year or most likely next year. Then we can switch that money over. It’s about $800,000 a year we can switch into roadways.”
Right now three bridge replacement projects are scheduled to begin April 1. They are located on 1150 East one mile south of State Road 10, on 900 East less than a mile south of State Road 10 and on 625 South just west of 875 East.
