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Hope collapses for outside funding on bridges
Bourbon County Commissioners are facing a decision on what to do about two aged bridges that have been listed on the fracture critical list.
It will cost a million dollars to replace or remove each bridge, which is $2 million more than the county has.
Public Works Director Jim Harris has done research on what funding might be available. On Tuesday. He reported he has come up empty-handed.
The bridges were placed on the fracture critical list during a semi-annual bridge inspection conducted in 2016 by Schwab Eaton. One bridge, identified as RS170, is located over Drywood Creek south of Deer Road. The other bridge, RS518, is a railroad overpass on 215th Street south of Fulton.
Third District Commissioner Nick Ruhl said there is a possibility the state will force the Drywood Creek Bridge to be closed this year. Because of their designations, the bridges are now subject to inspections every six months, commission Chair Lynne Oharah said.
“So we’ve got to make a decision somehow,” Oharah said.
Ruhl said there will be more bridges added to the fracture critical list because there are a lot of bridges in Bourbon County.
“You look from now to 20 years ahead of us, if we don’t start doing something now, the people sitting at these desks in 20 years are going to have a tougher decision to make than what we’ve got right now,” Ruhl said.
County Counselor Justin Meeks said the Drywood Creek bridge could qualify for a historical grant, but that would mean restoring it as close to historical original as possible.
“But may be more pain than it’s worth,” Meeks said.
Oharah said the county receives funds from the Federal Exchange Program, administered by the Kansas Department of Transportation. The county received $160,000 last year, which does not include the 10 percent the state took out for administrative costs.
This year, the match has dropped from 90 percent from the county and 10 percent from the state to 80-20 and the state has increased its administrative fee to 25 percent.
“Actually, Kansas, now is not having to donate anything to counties off the matching federal funds,” Oharah said.
Commissioners have discussed the possibility of forming a consortium of southeastern Kansas counties and having the Kansas Association of Counties becoming the administrator for the funds at a lesser fee.
There were several ideas for the future of both structures.
The discussion followed a commissioner vote to approve the hard-surface project list, which includes asphalt overlay and chip-and-seal on five roads for a total cost of $530,500. (See story in Wednesday’s edition.)
Meeks said the county could “close down” its asphalt program for four or five years.
“That’s what it boils down,” Ruhl said. “Either we keep up our asphalt roads or forget about it for four or fives years and fix bridges.”
“And then by that time, you don’t have any asphalt roads,” Oharah said.