Supervisors OK 22 bridge embargos

By Mary Zielinski
Posted 10/5/21

Following earlier structural inventories and appraisals of 22 county bridges, County Engineer Jacob Thorius, on Tuesday Oct. 5, presented the Washington County Board of Supervisors with a list of …

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Supervisors OK 22 bridge embargos

Posted

Following earlier structural inventories and appraisals of 22 county bridges, County Engineer Jacob Thorius, on Tuesday Oct. 5, presented the Washington County Board of Supervisors with a list of ones to be embargoed for weight limits. Load limits will be posted at the entrance to the bridges, all of which are 20 feet or less, which technically is not a “real”  bridge, he noted.

Weight limits ranged from as little as three tons to a maximum of 40 tons. However, for some of the bridges, there are three weight limits reflecting the difference is truck structures. There are 12 that are listed as small streams, nine as creeks and one over a railroad.

The county bridge inspections are done “every couple years” by professionals from Calhoun Burns Associates of Des Moines, he explained.

In other business, the board approved regular step wage increases for Megan Jorgensen, naturalist with the County Conservation Department, from $23.32 to $23.93 hourly and for conservation/naturalist assistant Randi Brase from $21.25 to $21.75 hourly; and

• was asked by resident Lloyd Miller to have the county engineer contact the Iowa Department of Transportation for possible funding for a 30-foot asphalt approach to the intersection of State Highway 218 from the county’s 135th Street. Miller said that the area has gone from one of three homes to 58, making the intersection far more used. He said he had contacted the DOT and was told it should start at the local level with the supervisors and county engineer.