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Charley Western Bridge demolition phase complete

The Cedar River, sans Charley Western Bridge. The demolition work on the 108–year old bridge is complete. Construction on a new bridge is slated for the summer of 2020.
The Cedar River, sans the Charley Western Recreation Trail Bridge. The demolition work on the 108–year old bridge is now complete. Completion on construction of a new bridge is slated for the summer of 2020. Photo submitted
By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Demo mode done.

The Charley Western Recreation Trail Bridge, which unexpectedly collapsed into the Cedar River last month during the process of its demolition, is officially no more.

The stone, concrete and other materials that came crashing down into the river more than three weeks ago has all been removed, and canoers or kayakers are no longer warned to stay away from that area of the Cedar River.

The removal of the 108–year-old railroad bridge is part of a $2 million dollar project to create a new trail bridge in Charles City.

Demolition work began on the bridge on July 17, but just a day later after work began the entire overpass collapsed into the river below.

The old bridge had started to show signs of wear and tear in recent years. In April 2017 the bridge was closed after it started to break away and threatened to collapse.

The bridge was deemed of historical significance last summer.

“We were certainly glad that we had that bridge closed off because it didn’t take much for it to start all coming down,” said Charles City Administrator Steve Diers. “We have fully put our attention toward the replacement side of it.”

A new bridge is slated for completion in the summer of 2020.

City Engineer John Fallis said that temporary barricades near the bridge will be replaced by permanent ones in the future to close off the trail. There is also a floating silt curtain to prevent silt from washing down river that that still remains on site.

“Everything is gone. They do have a little touch-up work to do on the banks before they seed it down,” said Fallis. “Things went well. It was a good project.”

The signs on the bank of the river that warned anyone to not to cross that particular portion of the river under the bridge have also been removed.

“It should be safe to canoe through there,” said Diers.

Calhoun–Burns and Associates did the demo work at a cost of $71,400. Diers said the city is also working with Calhoun–Burns to be involved in the construction of the new bridge.

The city has already received grant money in the amount of $249,000 from TAP (Transportation Alternative Funding) to help with that construction. Diers also indicated that the city may also receive more TAP funding in the future.

“We’re in the process of writing grants right now and designing the project,” he said.

Diers said he received notice on Friday that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources just received the city’s REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection) Application.

Grants that will also help fund the new bridge project are the state and national Rec Trail Program grant. There was also a $35,000 donation from the Floyd County Snowmobile Association.

“The grants are a small piece of the puzzle. The large majority of it is going to be paid for with other types of city funding and donations. We anticipate donations from the public,” said Diers. “You’ll probably be seeing a more formalized fund drive as we get into this next spring.”

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