People driving around Fort Dodge are going to have to get used to them. Those barricades and dividers will be up through September 2024 while the westbound side of the bridge is dismantled and replaced.

The westbound side of the bridge will be closed Thursday, according to Jenny Hoskins, the resident construction engineer at the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Jefferson office.

“They intend to make the traffic switch Thursday,” she said.

The traffic switch she spoke of will place both eastbound and westbound traffic on the eastbound side of the bridge. There will be one lane of traffic going in each direction, separated by the concrete dividers.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A long line of concrete barriers separates the two lanes on the eastbound side of the Kenyon Road Bridge Monday afternoon. Starting Thursday, those barriers will separate lanes of traffic going both east and west when all bridge traffic is shifted to that side. The westbound side of the bridge will be demolished and rebuilt in a project expected to continue through September 2024.

The westbound lanes were expected to close Monday. Hoskins said the time needed to get all the barriers and dividers in place led to the delay.

“It’s a lot of work to get that set up,” she said.

As of Monday afternoon, southbound traffic on Eighth Street can no longer turn west onto the bridge.

Eastbound traffic on the bridge cannot turn north onto Eighth Street.

However, westbound traffic on Fifth Avenue South/Kenyon Road can still turn north onto Eighth Street.

Sections of Avenue B and South Seventh Street are also closed.

Additionally, the trail that goes under the bridge is closed.

Soon after the westbound side of the bridge is closed, contractors will begin the long process of taking it apart and building new structures in its place. United Contractors, of Johnston, has a $15.2 million contract from the state for the job.

The Kenyon Road Bridge actually consists of four structures — two on the westbound side and two on the eastbound side — that carry the road over the Canadian National Railway tracks, Pleasant Valley and the Des Moines River.

The eastbound and westbound sides are different kinds of structures. The eastbound bridges are made of concrete, while the westbound ones are steel frame bridges. The westbound bridges have a very similar design to the Interstate 35 West bridge that collapsed in the Twin Cities of Minnesota in 2007.

The project was supposed to start Sept. 20, but was postponed so that some utilities could be relocated.