July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Report: Bridges in good shape

County gets semi-annual bridge report

By By Mike [email protected]

The county’s total of nearly 200 bridges is in generally good shape, Jay County Commissioners were told Monday by a representative of a company hired to prepare a semi-annual bridge inspection report.

Mark Klosterkemper of AECON Inc. Engineers and Consultants gave copies of the annual bridge inspection report to Commissioners Mike Leonhard, Gary Theurer and Milo Miller Jr.

Klosterkemper said that of the five bridges on the priority list, bridge 604 — located near the intersection of High and George streets in Redkey over Halfway Creek — is the most critical. But Jay County engineer Dan Watson said this morning he disagrees with that assessment.

The AECON representative said Monday that there are lengthwise cracks all the way through the concrete deck of the bridge.

But Watson, who had not seen a copy of the report until this morning, said the condition of the bridge has not deteriorated in the four or five years it’s been on the county bridge inventory.

“It’s not even posted (with a weight limit). There’s no posting on it or anything. It’s not real critical,” Watson said.

In fact, just one of the five bridges ranked as high priorities by the report is scheduled for work in the next year or so. That is bridge 129, which carries Division Road over Brooks Creek in Knox Township. That steel truss bridge will be removed, rehabilitated and relocated over the Salamonie River in Portland to connect Weiler-Wilson Park with the Hudson Family Park.

The only two bridges scheduled for replacement are Nos. 54 and 57, located east of U.S. 27 on county road 500 North. Bridge 54, a steel truss structure located about two-tenths of a mile east of U.S. 27, will be a federal aid project and won’t be completed for four or five years.

Bridge 57, which is located on county road 500 North near county road 450 East, will be replaced this fall, Watson said.

Watson said that his priorities are governed by the nine bridges that are posted with a weight limit. Of those, only bridge 129 is posted with less than a 12-ton limit.

Watson said that bridge 129, which is posted with a three-ton limit, should probably be closed.

The annual report, which includes photos and detailed specifications and condition of each span longer than 20 feet on county roads and town or city streets in Jay County, cost approximately $40,000 to prepare.

Also Monday, the commissioners heard a request from the president of the Tri-State Engine and Tractor Association that land the group owns east of the Jay County Fairgrounds be leveled.

Last year, the county paid to run a sewer line from a main on the Tri-State land into the east side of the fairgrounds. The Jay County Fair Association will then be responsible for hooking up sewer lines in the fairgrounds to the new access point.

Ken Doherty, president of the Tri-State association, said that the area where the line was installed needs to be leveled and re-seeded with grass.

The commissioners contacted county engineer Dan Watson about Doherty’s request, and said later in the afternoon that contractor LPI Excavating was working to restore the area where the line was installed.

In other business Monday, the commissioners:

•Made courthouse custodian Roger McBride the purchasing agent for about 20 modular steel storage units that will be used in the courthouse basement. The units will cost $1,356.

•Made Jay County recorder Betty St. Myers the purchasing agent for four large metal storage cabinet units. The shelves, which will have roll top covers in front, will be used to hold bound volumes of newspapers that are required to be kept by the recorder’s office. Workers are currently painting the recorder’s office, and St. Myers said that it would be easier to replace the units while the painting is under way.

•Turned a decision on fining a Celina, Ohio man for violating the county’s zoning ordinance back to the Jay County Planning Commission. The commissioners, who Monday morning approved re-zoning four acres for an already-constructed communications tower in Bearcreek Township, made a motion Monday morning to ask the Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals to fine the property owner, Ralph Godwin, for building the tower without proper zoning and without a building permit.

Commissioners’ attorney Brad Burkett said later Monday he had been reading an old copy of the county’s zoning ordinance when he recommended that the BZA fine Godwin instead of filing an ordinance violation in court.

The provisions giving the BZA that authority have since been deleted from the ordinance.[[In-content Ad]]
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