BENTONVILLE — Replacing a pair of old bridges is a case of doing what’s right rather than doing what’s affordable, according to some Benton County officials.
Justice of the Peace Bobby Hubbard said he’s going to press for the county to replace the Fisher Ford and Colonel Meyers bridges.
“It just strikes me as odd that we can say to the people out there ‘Yes, it’s been a county road for 100 years, but we’re sorry, we’re going to close it because of the cost,’” Hubbard said. “I feel like it’s our responsibility to keep them open.”
Hubbard said a part of the problem stems from the conflicts between rural and urban interests in the county. He said there has been a tendency to neglect the rural areas.
“There’s not enough JPs who spend time driving on these county roads,” Hubbard said.
“I’m going to keep trying [to get the bridges replaced],” he said. “I think times are tight right now, but that doesn’t mean this can’t be a priority.
“Right now, the only services most people who live in rural area see are roads and bridges. And I feel like the county lets them down on that already.”
Fisher Ford Bridge crosses the Illinois River and was built in 1903. The bridge wasclosed to traffic in April 2005.
Colonel Meyers Bridge spans Osage Creek and was built in 1911. It was closed to traffic in May 2008. According to information from the county, the average daily traffic count on the bridge in 1987 was 67 vehicles.
The county had a study done on the cost of repairing Fisher Ford Bridge, but the project manager reported repairs would not solve all of the problems with the bridge and could not guarantee it would remain open for any length of time.
After getting the report on the Fisher Ford Bridge, county administrators put off doing a similar study on the Colonel Meyers Bridge until the Benton County Quorum Court gives them some direction on how to proceed. The Quorum Court’s Committee of 13 will hear a report on the cost of replacing the bridges when the panel meets Aug. 10.
County administrator Greg Hines said there are four bridges closed on county roads, but only the Fisher Ford and Colonel Meyers spans were on roads that saw any real use.
One of the other bridges is on a county road that is also closed, Hines said, while the second is on a road that ends at the Ozark National Forest.
Hines said there is no money in the Benton County Road Department budgetfor the kind of projects being considered, so the Quorum Court would have to appropriate money to get any work done.
He estimated the cost at between $500,000 and $700,000 to replace Colonel Meyers Bridge and in the range of $1.2 million to $1.4 million to replace Fisher Ford Bridge. Building bridges on the scale required is beyond the capacity of the road department, Hines said, so the work could not be done by the county.
Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore, chairman of the Quorum Court’s finance committee, said cost was a consideration, but was not the deciding factor for him.
“The main responsibility of the Quorum Court and the county judge is to keep the roads open and passable,” Moore said. “We need to be able to afford it.”
Moore said he would propose the county take out a five-year note to pay for replacing the two bridges. That would keep the county’s reserve intact while getting the two projects done in a timely manner.
Moore said he wants the county to consider more than the number of residents who might use the bridges. He said having routes for fire departments and other emergency services vehicles were also important.
“Ultimately, I think you need to do what’s right,” Moore said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 14 on 07/30/2010