Roadway, bridge on county line closed for safety reasons

Posted

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

LEE COUNTY - A stretch of roadway, including a bridge that was scheduled for replacement sometime after June 30, 2020, has been closed indefinitely on the Lee County/Henry County line.

The bridge is actually owned by both Lee and Henry counties. Due to structural deterioration of the bridge Lee-Henry Street from J20 in Henry County to 130th Avenue in Lee County in Cedar Township is closed and will remain closed until further notice, according to a notice from Lee County Engineer Ben Hull this morning.

Thru traffic will not be permitted.

Hull said consultants were brought in by Lee County over the past two weeks to inspect bridges, specifically the older bridges with timber substructures, which are the foundations of the bridges.

"We did those last week and during the review process they recommended it be closed," Hull said.

The bridge is located west of Hwy. 218, west of the Houghton to Salem road and about 2.4 miles west of W55. Hull said the bridge carries about 40 vehicles per day.

"The bridge was scheduled for replacement in FY 2021. We've actually done surveying on it for replacement and we did have embargoes on the weight limit," Hull said.

"There was one element we were keeping our eye on. But since it's jointly owned by us and Henry County it will be a two-county decision on what to do with it. We'll have to determine how expensive it will be to repair the pile caps and whether the two boards want to spend money to fix a bridge that's going to be replaced."

Hull said one of the options is to leave the bridge closed until it is replaced.

Motorist have access to a hard surface road, J20, that runs parallel about a mile north of the bridge, and Hull said there are several gravel roads on the Lee County side that can be utilized in the interim.

bridge, closed, Henry County, iowa, lee county, Lee County Secondary Roads, Pen City Current, street

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here