Licking County Engineer Bill Lozier has a goal to fix 35 bridges in the county this year, which will require the closure of about five county roads during the construction season. The cost of the 2016 bridge program is estimated at $4.3 million, with $3.7 million in contract work and $600,000 for county labor, materials and purchasing box culverts.
“The bridge program we’ve got might be unprecedented,” Lozier tells the news agency. “To get that many bridges in a year is pretty phenomenal. We feel like we’re dodging bullets all the time. We inherited a lot of bad bridges.”
The bridge replacement schedule can change at any time, because the condition of the structures can change. “We have a lot of roads low-lying, and ditches fill and farm fields flood,” Lozier explains in the report. “If we were to get a big rain, a section of road would have no access.”
The news agency reports that Lozier asked county commissioners to consider an emergency declaration to waive bidding for culvert installation on Benner Road in Bennington Township. The culvert has been closed for a month, but was moved up on the county’s construction list because of fear that recent rains might trap Benner Road residents between the road closure and a low-lying area prone to flooding.
“The bottom of the culvert continues to rot, and water runs underneath, and the culvert starts to sink,” Lozier tells the news agency. “If it’s actually moving, it’s a very dangerous situation, and you’ve got to close it.”
Additional road closures include Blacksnake Road in Washington Township, Flint Ridge Road in Franklin Township, Fairmont Road in Licking Township, and Harrison Road in New Albany. All should be open by the end of May. Bridges on Licking Valley Road in Fallsbury Township, Palmer Road in Harrison Township, and Catt Run Road in McKean Township were replaced last month, and the roads were reopened.
Licking County has 432 bridges, and in 2011, 142 of those bridges needed to be replaced immediately. By the end of 2016, that number could be down to 45.
