Council discusses bridge demolition plans
By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com
Bridges were on the agenda at the Charles City Council planning session Monday night.
The Charles City Council discussed the Charley Western Trail Bridge demolition and 1st Avenue bridge’s update.
“We have to get a permit from the Corp of Engineers,” said Charles City Engineer John Fallis in reference to tearing down the Charley Western Bridge.
The second bridge project the city has going on is the 1st Avenue Bridge, which is in need of a new deck, taking off the old fencing and putting on chain link fence, said Fallis. It’s similar to what was done with Brantingham Bridge.
“The deck of the 50-year-old bridge has been patched and is starting to delaminate. In order to seal the surface and keep water out of the concrete bridge deck, the entire surface requires removal of delaminated surface, milling and resurfacing to create a sound surface,” according to the city agenda package.
The 1st Avenue bridge over the Charley Western Train is near the high school and middle school, and won’t have any action until after June when school is not in session, Fallis said.
Fallis hopes to have bids on the project early in the new year.
Charles City Council member Jerry Joerger said he wants to bring the Charley Western Bridge over the Cedar River down as soon as possible.
“If we can get that demo, February, March, April, that would be great,” Joerger said. “I think we ought to get it done as soon as we can.”
The Charley Western Bridge partially collapsed the morning of April 8. Since then the bridge has been closed to any use and the city has warned people to stay away from it, including not passing under it on the Cedar River.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources permission for demolition has been stalled since the DNR found that the wood turtle, which is state-endangered, could be at risk and informed Charles City that an environmental assessment is needed for the area by a trained biologist.
The work on the Charley Western Bridge is expected to start as soon as possible so the work can take place during the late winter, when the wood turtle hibernates, according to city documents.
Calhoun Burns is completing finishing the construction and bidding documents, and the city can set hearing dates and bid-letting dates for both projects.
Fallis said he wants to have preliminary plans set at the Jan. 2, 2018, council session, followed by hearings on both projects during the Jan. 30, 2018, session so the council can accept bids by Feb. 5, 2018.
The council also discussed plans to repave Hildreth Street.
The street is set up as a 37-feet wide street, Fallis said. The cost would be $85,000 to pave the street at that size.
If the city goes with a smaller street, two intersections will have to be redone, Fallis said during the meeting.
“Right now we really need to make a determination,” Fallis said in regard to the width of the street.
“I’d really like us stay with the 37-foot,” said Charles City Council member Keith Starr.
The council is beginning work on the next budget season and went over possible goals for the upcoming sessions.
During the meeting, Charles City Administrator Steven Diers went over the previous year’s (2016) goals.
The next Charles City Council meeting will be Dec. 18. During the meeting Dean Andrews will be sworn in as the new mayor of Charles City.
No actions was taken during the planning session, and this was the last planning session for the year.
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