Johnson County moves forward with eventual repairs to Highway 965 bridge

Upcoming construction on Johnson County's crippled Highway 965 bridge is expected to close the heavily-traveled structure for more than two months.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved a roughly $200,000 contract with Coralville's VJ Engineering for preliminary and final design work on the bridge north of North Liberty.

The county aims hopes to tackle necessary bridge updates later this year and work could close down the bridge completely from mid-September through November.

Supervisor Janelle Rettig said the plan is to expedite the process to get the bridge repaired this construction season.

'VJ Engineering has agreed to basically put all their other projects on hold to expedite this one,” she said.

The county board called an emergency meeting May 19 after visible deficiencies were found on the southbound portion of the bridge's deck the day before. The board immediately ordered limits on the bridge - decreasing the weight limit to 20 tons and narrowing traffic to one lane with the use of traffic signals. Those regulations will remain in place until construction begins.

The Highway 965 bridge - which carried more than 1,800 daily vehicles in 2014, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation - will be closed completely during construction.

County officials have determined the bridge's deck is in serious need of replacement, while other components including the substructure remain fine. Early estimates put a deck project at around $2 million, but an expedited construction effort could raise the price.

Rob Winstead, assistant county engineer with the Johnson County Secondary Roads Department, said the county plans to take on any other bridge needs during that time, such as patching or spot painting.

'We're going to take on everything that's foreseeable,” he said.

Greg Parker, county engineer with Johnson County Secondary Roads, said final cost estimates will be fleshed out at a later date.

'You just don't know until you take bids and see where the dollars land out,” he said.