Sedgwick County will officially complete a bridge replacement project over the Arkansas River, north of Mt. Hope at a ribbon cutting on Friday, September 11 at 10:00 a.m. The project to replace the 60-year old bridge was started in the fall of 2014.
The Mt. Hope bridge is located one mile north of K-96 on 279 th Street West. The original bridge was built in 1954 and was 654 feet long and 26 feet wide. The new bridge is 680 feet long and 36 feet wide, and serves a daily traffic count of approximately 800 cars. The bridge construction cost was $3.75 million (less than the budgeted $4.5 million), and the project was completed ahead of schedule. Before starting this bridge replacement project, Sedgwick County first had to replace a bridge on 117 th Street North that would be used as the detour route.
“We know that the Burr-Mac bridge project has been inconvenient for those who live and work in Greeley Township and the surrounding area,” said Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn. “But this new bridge is a vital improvement for Sedgwick County that assures the safety of the residents who travel in northwest Sedgwick County. This is the county’s largest bridge project in 2015. This bridge is a vital improvement that supports the agricultural industry, and that is a key factor in our local economy. I am delighted that this project is now complete which will now aid the fall harvest.”
There were a number of factors that had to be considered in the timing and execution of the bridge replacement project. One of the most important was the timing of the start of construction after fall harvest in 2014, and the need to be done before fall harvest in 2015. Other challenges included the environmental permits that restricted any construction activity in the wetted channel of the river during the period of April 1 to August 31, the need to detour traffic for 28 miles with the closure, and several rainy periods. Despite these factors, the county was able to implement a shortened construction period (18 months reduced to 11 months), with hard completion dates. There were several rainy periods during construction, but the contractor will be able to reopen the bridge to traffic 19 days ahead of schedule.
Dondlinger Construction was the contractor for the bridge replacement project, with Parsons Brinkerhoff providing design engineering.