County approves $100,000 replacement of Lane's Bridge

New Year’s resolutions may not normally last long, but citizens who use the bridge on 260th Street between Kansas and Kentucky avenues are hoping the resolution passed Monday by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors lasts a long time. After more than a year haggling over what to do with a closed wooden and steel beam bridge, the supervisors decided to replace the structure with twin box culverts at an estimated cost of $100,000. Known locally as the Lane’s Timber Bridge, the 31-foot long by 20-foot wide bridge with wooden backwalls and piles and a wood deck, was in severe disrepair and had been closed to local traffic since late October 2012. Running over Indian Creek in Section 27 of Corinth Township, the bridge was constructed in 1947. The board held a hearing to possibly close and vacate the bridge in late August of 2013. At that time, the board decided to seek the opinion of a structural engineer to assess the cost of repairing the bridge. According to the engineering firm Shuck-Britson Inc. of Des Moines, that cost was estimated at $36,500-$42,000. Repair was one of the options considered. Removing the bridge with dead end postings was another option. Removing the bridge and designating the road as a level B road was another consideration, along with possibly closing and vacating the stretch of 260th Street between Kansas and Kentucky avenues. To read more about the matter, and other issues decided by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, read this week's Humboldt Independent newspaper. Subscribe to the print or digital e-reader editions by clicking on the link above.

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