Otoe County’s five commissioners, highway superintendent and crew foreman hit the road Tuesday on a tour of troubled bridges.
Commissioners visited bridges in the third and fourth districts, between Nebraska City and Talmage, on Tuesday. Tours of districts one and five, between Nebraska City and Otoe and on to Douglas and Palmyra, are scheduled in March.
Commissioners plan to visit each of the 16 bridge projects that qualify for federal funding to help prioritize which projects will be pursued first, said Board Chairman Tim Nelsen.
He said having all five commissioners visit each bridge allows the county board to evaluate its construction program on a countywide basis.
“We’re taking the tour district by district, but it won’t matter what district the bridge is in when we decide which is the most important,” he said.
Tuesday’s tour began with a 10-ton bridge on a little traveled road that descends the Missouri River bluff near the Omaha Public Power District’s power plant. The area, commonly called Seven Sisters after local folklore, is one of two alternative routes connecting the power plant. The other route winds through the pioneer settlement of Minersville and climbs the bluffs a mile south of the power plant.
Third District Commissioner Carol Crook said there should be a reliable alternative route to the power plant, but bridges and roadways needs to be improved.
Highway Superintendent Glen Steffensmeier said R Road near Minersville would have to be straightened and earlier asked commissioners if it would be relocated to match the section line.
Crook said the tour will help commissioners set priorities for bridges and see together roadway hazards that have been marked with red flags.
“It’s such a benefit to be able to put sight to what has been under discussion,” she said.
The tour included a bridge north of Talmage. It had been a wooden railroad bridge in the late 1800s, but was capped with concrete by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. The bridge is rated now for 21 tons, but Nelsen said the completion of a bridge inspection will result in a rating of five tons.
“We won’t be able to use it for the elevator,” he said of the farmers cooperative storage facility in Talmage.
Commissioners also toured several closed bridges, including the a 239-foot bridge on Road 24 south of the Unadilla highway. The county’s longest bridge was closed after high water carried a tree downstream that slammed into the superstructure. The collision bent the middle of the bridge causing a noticeable curve in the driving lane and barricades from the county.
