County moving to replace bridge washed away by storm

Replacement of the Airport Road bridge has taken another step forward.

The White County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 9 approved the purchase of a new bridge for $95,500 from Contech Inc. It is expected to be similar in size to the single-lane bridge that was washed away last October by a lingering storm from Hurricane Delta.

Interim County Manager Shanda Murphy said at the meeting there would be a 10-week lead time for new bridge to be constructed. Meanwhile, the county will need to solicit bids for bridge installation as the county attorney works on related right-of-way matters.

“These things can all work together at the same time, so hopefully in about three months we’ll be ready to get that bridge finally installed and open that road back up,” Murphy told commissioners.

Prior to being washed away, the Airport Road bridge improvement had been turned over to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for what was planned to be a more substantial and most costly project, Murphy said.

She added that, following the storm and road closure, the county asked GDOT if it would provide funding if the project was returned to the county level to expedite replacement of another single-lane bridge. The state agreed and approved the design specifications, while pledging $189,000 toward costs.

Murphy said the county had already designated $152,000 from its 2014 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) program for previously planned work at the Airport Road bridge. She said roughly $56,000 has been spent on design and geotechnical work related to the project.