Council's options for Washington Avenue bridge span repair, rebuild, replace

Fixing the Washington Avenue bridge may prove to be trickier than previously thought, as Sedalia City Council members all had differing opinions on the best course of action to take during Monday’s work session.

The bridge, built in 1911, was closed in early December after it was found structurally unsound.

During the meeting, City Administrator Gary Edwards cautioned the council and public that no action would be taken on the bridge during the meeting, only the possible options to fix the bridge would be discussed.

“Right now we have a few different options about how to solve the problem, which we’ll discuss further during our strategic budget planning meeting in February,” Edwards said.
Kenneth Jennison, with Olsson Associates, explained the three options available to the council — repair, rebuild or replace.

“The first option is to repair the bridge,” Jennison said. “The pier caps, cross-bracing, floor beams, stringers and current asphalt deck would all need to be completely replaced. The city did a similar repair in 1989. Depending on how well the bridge is maintained, I’d estimate that a repair like this could give you another 40 to 45 years.”

“I think a very good option is to just repair the current bridge,” said Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Norton. “That gets us another 40 years and in the meantime, we can look at other options for building another bridge.”

Ward 3 Councilman Wiley Walter discouraged that idea, telling the council it should wait to find out where it could get the most federal or state grant money.

“The way I look at it, if we just repair or replace, we’re getting no help and (the city) just can’t afford that,” Walter said. “I think we need to find out more about our grant options.”

To just repair the bridge would cost the city between $875,000 and $1 million and would not be eligible for federal grant dollars, however there is a possibility the city could receive historical funding dollars or money from the Union Pacific Railroad.

“There was an ordinance from 1910 that says Union Pacific — then called Union Missouri — was responsible for maintaining the 105-foot truss that spans the bridge,” Jennison said. “However, as far as I can tell, ordinances are not law.”

Edwards said the city has sent UP the ordinance and the company is currently reviewing what — if any — liability it may have.

“I would point out that UP is not noted for working very quickly,” Edwards added.

The second option Jennison presented would be to tear down the bridge and completely rebuild it, though this comes with its own set of problems.

“There would still be no federal funding if we did this, the city would have to incur that cost,” Jennison said. “The bridge would also have to be widened to bring it to current standards and we’d have to back it out to deal with sight-distance issues. Access to St. Louis Street and Main Street would likely be cut off.”

Olsson estimated the cost to replace the bridge would be near $2 million.

The final option is to build a new bridge in a different location, at a cost of about $2 million. Edwards told the council there are only two streets the city could build on to best take advantage of federal grant dollars.

“Right now we’re looking at Ohio Avenue or Engineer Avenue,” Edwards said. “If we built on one of those streets, we could apply for a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation that would give us an 80-20 pay schedule; MoDOT would pay 80 percent, we’d only pay 20.”

Council members found fault with the Ohio Avenue option as the bridge would likely have to be built in the downtown area. And while a new bridge likely would have a life span between 75 and 100 years, since Engineer Avenue is wider it would cost more to build a bridge to span it and give fewer options to residents who live on the north side of town.

“The bottom line is, the bridge is closed and traffic piles up when the train is stopped,” said Ward 2 Councilwoman Becca La Strada. “The whole issue is that we want people to be safe. This is a community safety issue.”

Ward 1 Councilman Stephen Galliher agreed, “The main purpose of that bridge is to get emergency vehicles to the north side of town. We don’t need a fancy four-lane bridge, we need something that works.”

Whatever option the council ultimately decides on, the Washington Avenue bridge will be closed for the foreseeable future, Jennison said.

“If the council decided to just repair the bridge and we started tomorrow, it wouldn’t be finished until late 2013,” Jennison said. “It’ll likely take longer if they go with the option to rebuild or replace it.”

“We’re going to have to do a lot more research on our options of funding this project,” Edwards said.