Benton County seeks engineer for War Eagle Bridge

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County is advertising nationally for an engineering firm willing and able to design a program to renovate War Eagle Bridge.

The county sent out a request for qualifications May 13 and will close the submission period June 3. County Judge Bob Clinard said he's fielded some calls and questions about the project.

The county is working to determine what, if any, state and federal laws and regulations may govern the process of renovating the bridge, Clinard said. The county has applied for federal grant money, which will require a set of engineering plans before any money is awarded. Beyond that, the county needs to know what kind of work and how much work is possible, he said.

"I've got to find out what the rules are before we kick off this game," he said.

Robert Scoggin with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said work on historic bridges is limited by the nature of the structure. Engineering for a bridge as old as the War Eagle Bridge will require a specific set of skills, he said.

"It's a specialty field," he said. "These historic bridges were put together using methods that are no longer in use for the most part. You're not going to find someone who's just graduated from the University of Arkansas engineering school who's familiar with those methods. They don't teach them."

The county and state dealt with similar issues when the Fisher Ford and Colonel Meyers bridges were being considered for restoration or replacement, Scoggin said. The county will have to go through a specific process because of the historic designation of the structure. For those two bridges the state went through a marketing process, trying to find someone to take ownership of the bridges and responsibility for the ongoing maintenance, he said. In both cases, the bridges were ultimately replaced, he said.

Any restoration of the War Eagle Bridge would be a limited project, Scoggin said. The bridge will never meet modern standards without losing its designation as a historic bridge, he said.

"If you significantly degrade the historical integrity of the bridge it will no longer be eligible for National Historic Register status," he said. "If you were to rehab the bridge you might get it up to a certain level, maybe the level it was when it was built. That's what you want."

Jenny Harmon, a resident of the War Eagle area, has spoken with Clinard and put him in touch with the Historic Bridge Foundation in Austin, Texas. Clinard confirmed he has spoken with Kitty Henderson, executive director of the foundation, and is willing to work with the group to preserve the bridge.

Harmon hopes the county can find sources of information and expertise, such as the Historic Bridge Foundation, to help save the bridge. She said the process shouldn't be rushed.

"I just feel like we have access to resources, people who have done historic bridge restoration work in other areas," she said. "I think it may be a long process. The county judge and at least some of the people on the Transportation Committee seemed to support saving the bridge."

Glenn Jones, chairman of the Benton County Historical Preservation Commission, said he sees a lack of organization among area residents and others who support the preservation of the bridge as another obstacle. Jones said he tried to find ways to save the Fisher Ford Bridge and Colonel Meyers bridges, but couldn't in the time allowed by the process of marketing the bridges.

"If you're not organized, you're not going to get anything done," he said. "It's just going to be chaos."

Jones has suggested the commission could help, but needs clear direction.

"The Preservation Commission, of course, would like to help," Jones said. "But nobody out there has come forward. We need a committee formed that can tell us what they're thinking. If they want the commission's help they've got to get involved and tell us what they'd like us to do."

NW News on 05/23/2015