Engineer Work On White County Bridge May Cause Some Closures

Roberts Matthew Highway Bridge over Post Oak Creek in White County will experience closures or lane reductions starting Monday.

Financial Director Chad Marcum said engineers will be studying the feasibility of replacing the bridge over the next two weeks.

“They need to access underneath the bridge to do some burrowing for geotechnical investigation just to make sure that when we do go back and put in a new bridge that we are on solid footing,” Marcum said.

Marcum said engineers will drill through the bridge deck which will cause possible closures. Marcum said the work should only impact motorists from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

“The problem with where that bridge lies and the surrounding land, they can’t access underneath the bridge with the drilling rig, so they’re going to have to drill through to access underneath there,” Marcum said.

Marcum said the geotechnical data will guide the design phase of the project. The county commission approved $160,000 for the engineer services in March. Marcum said a state bridge replacement program will then reimburse that cost and cover the construction.

“The way these projects work is the county has to cover those engineering costs upfront,” Marcum said. “Then once T-DOT grants approval to go to construction, T-DOT will reimburse the county for the engineering costs. Later in the next fiscal year hopefully they’ll reimburse those costs.”

Marcum said motorists should use caution in the area as additional signage and workers will be around the bridge. The bridge is located near the Putnam County, White County line.