Scott County seeks to replace two wooden deck bridges

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County commissioners are taking steps toward replacing two wooden county bridges.

Commissioners said during their regular meeting Tuesday that 11 companies responded to the county's request for qualifications for engineering services on two Off-System Bridge Replacement Program projects.

Qualifications were opened during a meeting last week, according to Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger

"We're now in the review process," Burger said.

The program allocates Federal Highway Administration funding through the Missouri Department of Transportation to counties based on the total number of bridges and the number of deficient bridges within the county.

"These are our last two wooden-top bridges," Burger said.

One is located on County Road 468 just west of U.S. 61 right outside of Sikeston's city limits.

Burger said the commission may ask for a cost estimate to rehabilitate that bridge in addition to the replacement cost as it has steel pilings and only the deck is made of wood.

"We don't even know if it is a viable option," he said. "We're going to see what's the most cost effective and, in the long run, is most beneficial."

Burger said building clear-span bridges would allow contractors to remove pilings, opening up the channels in the drainage ditches crossed by the bridges.

The other bridge is located on County Road 420 southwest of Oran near its intersection with County Road 417.

"Both of these bridges are used heavily during grain harvest season," Burger said. "Our hopes are that as soon as we pick an engineer we can time this thing so it doesn't interfere with harvest season. There will be some inconvenience but in the long run it will be worth it."

The current bridges are narrow and unable to accommodate some modern farm equipment, commissioners said.

Once the engineer is selected, commissioners will meet with the engineer at the bridge sites so they can discuss dimensions, guard rails and general specifications for the engineer to come up with a design, Burger said.

Once a design is ready, the county will then be able to put the projects out for bid.

In other business discussed during Tuesday's meeting, sales tax receipts for the year so far are $1,309,311 on a half-cent tax as compared with $1,251,288 last year at this time.

The $58,000 increase works out to an improvement of about 3 percent as compared with 2010, Commissioner Donnie Kiefer said.

The latest monthly sales tax receipt was $211,207, an increase of $16,911 as compared with September 2010, he noted.

Pertinent address:

Benton, MO

Oran, MO