Vigo flood repairs estimated at $11M

By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE June 22, 2008 09:37 pm

— Washed-out bridges and sections of county roads damaged in this month’s floods are estimated to cost at least $11 million to repair, county officials say.
“That is really just a seat-of-the pants number for all categories for the highway department. The bulk of that is bridges, but that number was based on total bridge replacements. It could be much less,” said Vigo County Engineer Jerry Netherlain.
If damage to a bridge is greater than 50 percent, Netherlain said federal officials want the bridge replaced. The county would be eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a 75/25 percent basis for replacement, with Vigo County paying 25 percent of costs, he said.
Vigo County officials will meet again with federal officials within the next two weeks to get a better financial cost of replacing washed-out bridges and damaged roads.
“When we get final numbers and start the process with FEMA, we will have to look for grants, bonds or low-interest loans,” said Vigo County Commissioner Judith Anderson. “Counties cannot bond for roads, but in disasters, there are allowances for different things. We will be looking for guidance [from FEMA],” Anderson said.
Replacing some bridges may only take months, Netherlain said, such as a small bridge on Thralls Avenue, between Arms and Regan Place. “We are hoping to get a quick design, use a pre-engineered steel package and get it installed on an emergency basis and cut the project down to months rather than a year,” Netherlain said.
Other bridges will take a year or longer to replace.
“We found a bridge on Pottsville Road we thought was just under water that is just completely gone. The whole superstructure is downstream laying in the channel and a row of the abutments are gone,” Netherlain said. “That is a bridge that will not be quick to replace. It must go through the whole bridge replacement process and will take a year or more.”
That bridge is a 120-foot-long timber bridge built in 1960 over Coal Creek, about 1/10 of a mile south of Pennington Road.
Other bridges needing a complete replacement include a 128-foot-long timber bridge built in 1989 on Crews Place over Clear Creek, about 1 mile south of Sarah Myers Drive; and a 78-foot-long timber bridge on Hollingsworth Place, about 4/10 of a mile north of Whitesell Avenue, built in 1985.
Max Hewitt lives at 6300 Darwin Road, near a bridge over Hawk’s Creek. He said floodwaters washed out gravel and soil under the approach to the bridge, causing the road to drop below the level of the bridge.
Hewitt said neighbors erected signs shortly after flooding to warn drivers. The county has since put large sand piles in front of the bridge, he said.
“I spend a half hour now just to get to the [Honey Creek] mall or the [Vigo County] courthouse, which used to take about 15 minutes. You have to drive out into Illinois now to get there,” Hewitt said.
“My nephew says it takes an extra tank of gas a week to go around to get to work,” he said.
Hewitt called county officials last week about the bridge, saying he thinks the problem can be solved simply by filling in the road with gravel and other materials. “There is nothing they could do about it happening, but it happened, so now just fill it up and get traffic going,” Hewitt said.
Netherlain and other engineers inspected 13 county bridges Thursday, with more detailed inspections expected this week. Of those, five bridges can be repaired quickly, including the one near Hewitt’s home, Netherlain said.
“We can’t just put in rip-rap,” Netherlain said. “We would put some form work along the [bridge] pilings to fill up with concrete to try avoid this washing underneath that happened, and then fill in the rest. We can do that fairly quickly. We can do that work in one day, once we start, and then open it up.”
Netherlain said he hopes to have the five bridges open within two weeks. Repair work on county roads with washed-out culvert pipes, such as on Fenway Drive, west of Fry Street and north of Riley, began last week.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.