City set to replace two bridges
Mar. 9—The weight limit sign gives a little shimmy every time a heavy truck rumbles across the Fifth Avenue bridge in St. Joseph.
The truck makes it across, and everything's fine. But the common experience provides food for thought about St. Joseph's aging bridge infrastructure.
Soon, motorists will have two fewer bridges to worry about in town. The St. Joseph City Council approved $3.1 million for two bridge replacement projects at its Monday meeting.
Work is expected to begin this spring on the replacement of the Fifth Avenue Bridge and the Lovers Lane bridge over Northwest Parkway.
"We're hoping to have it done by the end of this construction season so it will start in the spring and be done by the fall," said Abe Forney, the city's director of public works and transportation.
Funding for the two projects comes from the Bonds for Bridges program that St. Joseph voters approved in 2020. The $20 million bond program is used to repair or replace functionally obsolete bridges, including some with weight restrictions and no sidewalks. Six of the bridges were built before 1930. The Lovers Lane bridge is more than 90 years old.
On Lovers Lane and Fifth Avenue, the existing bridges will be replaced with precast arched structures and 11-to 12-foot driving lanes.
"They'll look very similar to the ones we've currently done," Forney said. "So we're going to get some new concrete there, get some sidewalks and it should look good."
The public works department recommended awarding the contract to LG Barcus & Sons of Kansas City, which had the low bid of $3.1 million. The other bidders, MegaKC Corporation of Kansas City, Clarkson Construction Co. of Kansas City and Phillips Hardy of Columbia, Missouri, submitted bids between $3.6 million and $4 million.
Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.
