Despite an extensive repair effort to the surface of the county’s new Rocky Ford Bridge in recent weeks, Lyon County Engineer Wayne Scritchfield is optimistic the structure will be ready for traffic by early next month.
Scritchfield told KVOE News he is hopeful it could be open by the second week of July; however, there is no exact date set just yet. Scritchfield’s comments came to KVOE News Friday as part of what he called a “minimal update” with a pair of projects just recently wrapping up.
The repairs to the bridge’s surface were needed after rebar was poking through the new concrete deck in spots, following the decking process in early April. Scritchfield tells KVOE News the cause likely developed when the contractor’s “finish” materials on the bridge’s new concrete “came out of adjustment.”
Scritchfield tells KVOE News the next steps in the bridge construction process will be the placement of guardrails, which will occur once the handrails have cured, which could take up to 14 days. This will be followed by final grading and dirtwork, again with an early July completion time, which Scritchfield noted will be entirely weather dependent.
The surface repairs were the first significant construction issue for the new bridge, which is replacing the longstanding bridge erected in 1907. The old bridge, alternately known as the Bird Bridge, infamous for being the site of the Sandra Bird murder in 1983, is getting shut down to vehicle traffic but will remain in place.
