By MIKE MCCOY
Statesman Staff Writer
BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission reviewed priorities for replacing bridges in the county at their regular meeting Monday. Smith & Company, Engineers presented eight bridges in five townships for consideration for replacement under the Off-System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (BRO).
Bill Robison, representing Smith & Co., reviewed the eight bridges in a power point presentation. He said replacement was based on efficiency ratings by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The ratings are made in December of each year and are rated by percentage with the lowest being 22 to 34 percent efficiency.
Robison targeted the following bridges which each township submitted to the commission last year. He identified the bridge, the estimated cost of replacement of the bridge and the efficiency rating. They were:
* Duck Creek Township -- (1) CR 420, $220,000, 39.6 percent, and (2) CR 420, $300,000, 39.6 percent;
* Castor Township -- CR 420, $371,000, 29.9 percent;
* Richland Township -- CR 518, $500,000, 43.7 percent;
* Pike Township -- CR 219, $326,000, 30.6 percent;
* Elk Township -- (1) CR 750, $236,000, 35 percent, and (2) CR 784, $261,000, 30.1 percent;
* Liberty Township -- CR 732, $342,000, 35 percent.
Robison said there were not as many qualifying bridges in the northern portion of the county. He said there were no qualifying bridges in New Lisbon Township. He said many of the bridges in the northern portion of the county were low-water, and did not qualify for BRO funds. The southern part of the county is flatter and has more bridges across drainage ditches.
Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis asked if the list reflected the priorities given by township officials. Robison said it did.
Robison said the MoDOT rating for the bridge in Richland Township made it a lower priority. He said MoDOT gave all aspects of the bridge a rating a seven, which is good. He said he viewed the bridge and it appeared in good condition.
Engineer Jeremy Manning with Smith & Co., said he was puzzled by the eight ton load limit for the bridge. He said he had contacted MoDOT for clarification. Commissioner Danny Talkington said the 8-ton rating was insufficient for farmers crossing the bridge with heavy equipment and trucks loaded with grain. Manning agreed, and said he was waiting for further clarification.
Robison said the county currently had $1.5 million in BRO funds. He said with the 2014 allocation the county has $2 million in BRO funds. The county has $744,000 in soft match money, which is required to use BRO funds.
Robison said without including the bridge in Richland Township, the county would still have $256,277 in BRO funds. He estimated the county would obtain $459,118 in BRO funds in October 2015, to bring the total to $715,396. The county would still have $295,000 in soft match money after replacement of the seven bridges.
Mathis asked if the estimated costs of the bridges included engineering fees. Robison said it did.
Mathis wanted a timeline for how long it would take do the engineering work to replace the seven bridges.
Manning said one bridge would take about 10 months. He estimated that it would take about 18 months to complete engineering for all seven bridges.
"We are spending a lot of money, and we expect that we would receive top priority," stated Mathis. He went on to say the county might save money by packaging the two bridges in Elk Township.
Talkington said he thought packaging the bridges was a good idea. He said he thought the two bridges in Duck Creek Township could be packaged with the one in Castor Township since they were all on the same road and in close proximity. He said he also thought the two bridges in Elk Township could be packaged with the one in Liberty Township since they were all in the southeast part of the county.
Packaging multiple bridges in one bid packet allows the contractor to bring in heavy equipment to do more than one bridge without transporting it back and forth, thus saving money, the engineers and the commission believe.
"This commission has made bridges a top priority," stated Mathis. "We want our constituents to see where their money is going."
"We want as much bang for our buck as we can get," Mathis told both Robison and Manning.
Commissioner Carol Jarrell agreed, noting that the commission has been aggressive in replacing bridges. She said farmers needed the new bridges.
"We need to get on it," said Talkington.
"We want to see it done," added Jarrell.
There was some discussion about selecting an engineering firm. Manning said Smith & Co. was on the MoDOT approved list.
"What do you want from us?" asked Talkington.
Robison said the company just needed approval to begin engineering plans on whatever bridges the commission wanted replaced. He said the commission could approve two or three bridges the first month, two more later and then the remainder.
The commissioners voted 3-0 to retain the services of Smith & Company to design the BRO bridges to be programmed for replacement in the coming year.
In other business, the commission re-appointed Donna Deardorff, Doug Siler and Leroy Stockton to the Stoddard County 911 Services Board of Directors. The commission previously appointed John Stepp to the board to replace William Nelson who resigned.