SCOTT COUNTY PLANS WORK ON A NUMBER OF BRIDGES

BENTON -- Materials have been purchased, and it is just a matter of time until some bridges in Scott County are replaced.

Two of the five bridges closed this year by state inspectors have been replaced with culverts. Construction has begun on a third bridge and plans are in place for the other two.

Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner said the bridge on Route 432 near Vanduser was replaced by a 55-foot double culvert. The tanks of two railroad tanker cars were cut and used as the pipes for the culvert. The ends of the tanks were removed and the half-inch steel walls of the tanks should be sturdy supports for many years, Kielhofner said.

An industrial propane storage tank was used in a similar way in a new culvert on Route 242 near Hamburg.

Commissioner Walter Bizzell said using railroad cars in bridges and culverts saves the county thousands of dollars per bridge. He said the cars are sturdy, last a long time, and a bridge using a railroad car as its main construction piece costs about $28,000. That compares to the $65,000 it would cost to construct the same bridge from scratch.

The cars are usually 9- or 10-feet wide. The bridges are made by laying two of them side by side across the span. They're anchored by steel pilings.

Bizzell said an extra few feet of width can be gained by spacing the cars and running a steel beam between them. The structure is then covered with rebar and concrete.

The county recently purchased two 53-foot-long, 10-foot-wide railroad cars for $4,400 a piece. Thy will be used to replace a bridge on Route 418 two miles southeast of Perkins.

The county is also planning to construct a steel bridge on Route 216 near Kelso, Commissioner Dewaine Shaffer said.