Kantor Avenue east of Briggs Woods to remain closed
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WEBSTER CITY -- Nearly every chair was filled at the Hamilton County Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, with the majority of the residents attending there to learn more about the closing of the Kantor Avenue bridge east of Briggs Woods.
The topic of the bridge's condition was addressed by County Engineer Ryan Weidemann. According to Weidemann, there have been efforts to have the railroad replace the bridge over the last 60 years. All those efforts failed.
Weidemann’s presentation included the survey which has been on the county website for the past few months. A total of 34 individuals took the survey, which revealed that 44 percent said they use the crossing daily, while 29 percent use the crossing weekly. Also, 29 percent of those who responded use the route to commute to work, and 29 percent use it for their agriculture operation. The amount of time the detour has cost those living in the area ranged from five minutes to 45 minutes.
And there isn’t a lot to be done.
The bridge, according to Weidemann, which was built in the late 1800s, is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad.
“Union Pacific owns the bridge,” said Weidemann. “They will not repair the bridge.”
And it will not allow the county to make repairs to the bridge.
“The Union Pacific Railroad has clearly communicated to us they will not make future repairs to the bridge, ” Weidemann said.
He presented five options to the supervisors:
Do nothing, leading to permanent closure
2. Build an at-grade crossing. Union Pacific opposes this option.
3. Create at- grade access to U.S. Highway 20 from Kantor Avenue. The Iowa Department of Transportation does not allow the addition of an at-grade intersection in Hamilton County.
4. Replace the bridge on current alignment at a cost of up to $8 million.
5. Replace the bridge on new alignment. Funding this project would mean no other bridge replacement projects would occur for around 10 years..
“The way forward is to look for funding and provide the options and risks to the supervisors,” Weidemann said.
He also said the survey gives an indication of the impact, and they need that type of information to be considered for any grants, but he knows not everyone affected responded to the survey.
“I tried to do the best I could in getting the survey out, getting the different people to respond,” he said. “It’s my belief, the best chance for this project to succeed is grant funding. In order to build a better picture for grant funding, we need to build a case for it.”
“I was encouraged by the number of people who came, and who followed up,” said Weidemann. “I’ve seen the challenge with the Williams Bridge, everything was going for that. This bridge is going to be more of a challenge, and doing a project with the railroad takes years.”
He also offered some caution on understanding the cost of a bridge in the future.
“The numbers I gave are in today's dollars. It’s not going to be built this year,” he said.