FAYETTEVILLE -- Work on the closed and condemned Woolsey Bridge south of West Fork is expected to begin in the next couple of months, Washington County officials said Monday.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has awarded a bid to replace the aging structure over the West Fork of the White River, according to County Judge Marilyn Edwards. The Woolsey Bridge was closed to all traffic in January 2015.
Phillips Hardy Inc. of Boonville, Mo., was the apparent low bidder at $2.7 million.
The Federal Bridge Replacement Program will pay 80 percent of the cost while 18 percent will come from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's County State Aid Program. Washington County will pay the remaining 2 percent, about $49,500.
The new bridge will be 28 feet wide and 352 feet long. The bridge is expected to be completed in fall 2017.
Woolsey Bridge is a truss bridge built in 1925. It used to carry Washington County 35 over the West Fork of the White River for 303 feet. The bridge is historic as the only surviving bridge in the area built in the camelback style. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 9, 2000.
The bridge is expected to be dismantled and moved to West Fork's recycling center for temporary storage. It's expected to then be reassembled at Riverside Park as part of the city's bike and pedestrian trail system. The Arkansas 170 bridge is too narrow to add bike and pedestrian lanes, city officials said.
The Highway Department offered the Woolsey Bridge to anyone who would take and maintain it, and West Fork officials jumped at the opportunity.
National Register officials have agreed to allow the designation to remain for the bridge at its new location, according to West Fork officials. The bridge is one of five of its kind in the state.
NW News on 08/16/2016