Weight limits set for Marion’s Winslow Road bridge

MARION - Marion city officials have placed weight restrictions on vehicles traveling over the Winslow Road bridge.

Signs have been posted near the bridge, which crosses Indian Creek, to notify drivers that vehicles weighing more than 28 tons and more than 40 tons must find an alternate route.

The restrictions were put in place after a routine Iowa Department of Transportation inspection last year showed repairs were needed to a pier on the bridge. One of the wooden piers placed in Indian Creek has been eroded over time.

Mike Barkalow, assistant city engineer, said the reason some vehicles between 28 and 40 tons are permitted to travel over the bridge is because a vehicle at about 40 tons may have more than two axels, meaning it evenly distributes weight over more of the bridge.

The bridge, built in 2003, was part of a $500,000 project aimed at making travel easier until a main arterial road project could be built.

Barkalow said city officials are pondering more permanent solutions. Barkalow said it would be ideal to just reinforce the wood in that area. The city does not want to spend a lot of money on the project, he said, because the city plans to replace the bridge in the next five years with Tower Terrace Road, a main arterial traffic route. It will connect Interstate 380 to Highway 13. With the Tower Terrace Road expansion, the Winslow Road bridge over Indian Creek would not be traveled.

'We don't want to spend a lot of money on something that's going to go away,” Barkalow said.

Barkalow said bridge repairs could be made as early as this spring.

The city's fire trucks weigh in under the restriction limits, so emergency response to the area is not affected, Barkalow said.

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