Linn County high-truss steel bridge to come down

CEDAR RAPIDS - Neighbors fought and lost this one.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors voted to demolish the 90-year-old, high-truss steel bridge on Bloomington Road over Big Creek near Mount Vernon.

The vote, 4-1, came last week, and on Tuesday supervisors asked Steve Gannon, the county's engineer, about the concrete span that will replace the steel bridge at a cost of about $560,000.

Gannon said the new span will be about 30 feet wide without sidewalks and similar to a bridge on Otis Road SE over Indian Creek at the Indian Creek Nature Center.

He noted that people fish off that bridge.

Gannon said the concrete sidewalls would be 39 inches high, in response to Supervisor Brent Oleson's worries they would be too high for those driving over the bridge to see Big Creek.

Supervisors Jim Houser and Ben Rogers told Gannon that the rust and disrepair of the steel bridge convinced them to side with Gannon's recommendation and agree to the demolition.

Oleson voted to keep the steel bridge in place.

He said he realized it was not safe for motorists as it has been posted with a 10-ton limit. But he said he wanted to improve it cosmetically and use it for pedestrians and bicyclists.

But Gannon said it could have cost $600,000 just to repair the bridge for pedestrians and could cost $1.2 million to $1.5 million for a full restoration, which would require taking it apart, renovating it and putting it back together, he said.

He said the steel bridge, which remains open with a 10-ton limit, will come down as early as late October. The concrete replacement bridge should be in place between September and November 2016.

About 90 vehicles cross the bridge each day, Gannon said.

Oleson said a survey of the county's bridges in recent years did not include the Bloomington Road bridge on a list of historical bridges. It was worth saving even if not on the list, he said.

Gannon said federal funds are available for the replacement bridge.

Fred Meyer, a Mount Vernon resident, said the county shouldn't demolish the bridge 'just because we have a chance to grab some (federal bridge) money.”