Fishers Bridge detour under way Sleepy Creek bridge project approved

While the Fishers Bridge reconstruction will probably not get underway until spring, preliminary work on the detour road is in progress, said District Bridge Engineer Gary Klavuhn. The bridge is located on Route 9 West north of Largent.

The old Fishers Ford Truss Bridge that was removed from service in 1956 will be dismantled. A temporary bridge will be installed at its location for use during the reconstruction of the current bridge.

The detour during bridge construction will use an approximately 1.2 mile stretch of the old Route 9that will take a few minutes to drive. A detour wouldn’t be in place until spring at the earliest, Klavuhn said.

The estimated cost for the Fishers Bridge replacement is now around $2.5 million. They will replace the existing bridge at the same site reusing the components that are in good shape, he said.

The bridge will receive a new concrete deck and railing along with new steel beams and end abutments. The
concrete river piers are in excellent condition, Klavuhn said.

Work in early stages
Work such as paving, purchase orders, right-of-way arrangements and guardrail installation has been going on behind the scenes, he said. Guardrail on the detour has been installed. Pipe work has been completed on the west end of the detour road where a culvert pipe was lengthened. Paving of the detour road is underway, Klavuhn said.

Improving both ends of the detour the road to a condition where it can handle detoured traffic from Route 9 has been the focus. Brush has been cut back, ditches cleared and the entrances to both detour intersections improved and widened so vehicles can turn more easily off Route 9, he said.

Having sight distance for school buses to be able to see and get around the detour has also been important, Klavuhn said.

They will advertise for project bids in late November and hope to have a contractor selected within 30 days after, Klavuhn said. Work could get started in late winter or in early spring, depending on the weather.

The hopes are that the Fisher’s Bridge work will be completed by Thanksgiving next year so people don’t have to drive on the detour through the winter.

Sleepy Creek Bridge
A replacement of the one-lane bridge over Sleepy Creek that is located around five or six miles out River Road is planned, Klavuhn said. The project was just approved. Reconstruction work on the bridge will not be done until 2012.

A design firm was selected for the project and a consultant is being hired to begin the design work, he said. A preliminary site review was done along with initial surveying work.

A ballpark figure for the bridge replacement is around $3 million, though project details haven’t been worked out yet. They’ll probably build the new bridge alongside the old one so traffic won’t be disrupted, Klavuhn said.

Linaweaver Road work
The Linaweaver Road box culvert replacement work is now completed, Klavuhn said. The work was in a residential section of the Highland Ridge area and only affected a handful of families that lived back there, he said.