Neighbors ask Linn supervisors to save truss bridge

CEDAR RAPIDS - Neighbors near a high-truss steel bridge on Bloomington Road want to save the 90-year-old span, but Linn County Engineer Steve Gannon fears it could collapse at any time.

Linn County supervisors have approved a $550,000 project to tear down and replace the 'structurally deficient,” 150-foot-long bridge over Big Creek that has been restricted to a 10-ton limit for years.

The county will use $360,000 in federal bridge funds plus money from its 'farm-to-market” road fund to pay for it.

With bids for the replacement project set to be opened by the Iowa Department of Transportation in September, a group of lovers of the bridge came to the Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday to tell the board to put the replacement on hold.

Supervisors said they want to study their options. However, their questions to Gannon left the impression they may want to figure out a way to keep the bridge rather than replace it.

Supervisor Jim Houser agreed with Allan Viktor, 1537 Bliss Rd., Mount Vernon, that Gannon's cost estimate of $150,000 to remove lead-based paint from it may not be necessary because most of the paint has worn off.

Afterward, Gannon said some lead-based paint remains, so the costly process of removing it still would be required. He estimated it would cost $200,000 to remove the paint and then repaint the bridge.

The neighbors said the bridge is used by only a small number of motorists. Farmers with big equipment have other ways to get where they are going, they said. And it's not uncommon for a motorist to wait for another coming in the other direction to get over the narrow span, they said.

They said the bridge is as much a place for art students to paint and an attraction to look at as it is to carry people from one side to the other.

'I'm not against progress,” said Joe Lynott, 1717 Yeisley Rd., Mount Vernon. 'I like progress. … But we should keep some of the things we have that keep us grounded in nature.”

Fred Meyer, 1590 Bliss Rd., Mount Vernon, said the county shouldn't tear down the bridge 'just because we have a chance to grab some (federal bridge) money.”

'It sits there. It sits there nice,” Meyer said.

Houser said he wants to see how the cost of renovating the bridge compares with the cost of replacing it.

Supervisor John Harris asked the neighbors and Gannon if it might make sense simply to close the bridge to traffic.

Gannon said the bridge still needs significant repair even if it is used only by bicyclists and pedestrians.

'The trouble you have is a truss (bridge) like that can go at any time,” Gannon said. '… To a large extent, it's going to look really good until it goes down.”

Gannon said the bridge has much rust and problems with the deck and underside.

Viktor asked for the county to obtain an 'independent” evaluation and repair estimate.

Gannon, though, said an engineering inspector hired by the county has concurred in the decision to replace the bridge.

'It's our judgment that the bridge needs to be replaced before it falls down,” he said.

After Wednesday's meeting, Gannon estimated that repairing it would cost between $1.25 million and $2 million.

The county went through an extensive review of its old bridges in recent years. Jackie Moore, 1649 Bloomington Rd., Mount Vernon, wondered why the Bloomington Road bridge was not on the National Register of Historic Places.

Supervisor Linda Langston and Gannon said that the bridge was not the original span that stood when the road was part of the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway had moved to what is now Mount Vernon Road by the time the Bloomington Road bridge was replaced in 1925, they said.

Moore said replacing the bridge with a modern one would turn Bloomington Road from a 'quaint side road” to a 'main drag” allowing motorists to cut through the area to get to Marion.

l Comments: (319) 398-8312; rick.smith@thegazette.com