Daviess County Fiscal Court approved an agreement Thursday allowing American Engineers (AE) to design a new pedestrian bridge at Yellow Creek Park. However, the decision to have AE design a new bridge for the park did include some debate from county commissioners.
As explained by Daviess County Judge Executive Al Mattingly, the iron bridge that pedestrians currently use at Yellow Creek is in desperate need of replacement.
“That iron bridge is rusted and rotted out and falling down,” Mattingly said. “[A new bridge] has to be done, and it needs to be done in such a manner that you can take a vehicle across it.”
Mattingly told commissioners he was convinced the current bridge, which crosses a 40-foot creek, needed complete replacement. At a cost of $18,000, Mattingly said a new concrete bridge was the county’s best option out of the three proposals received from AE.
Commissioner George Wathen asked whether an $18,000 concrete bridge was in the best interest of the county, when the option to use large pipes in restructuring the pedestrian bridge could be done for around $12,000.
Wathen suggested a bridge restructure with pipe as plan A, since that was less expensive and a new concrete bridge replacement as option B.
Mattingly said Fiscal Court would sign a contract agreement that would take them the full design route. However, if AE determined they could reconstruct the bridge with pipes, the contract would be tossed and the county could use that option instead.
“We’ll authorize it and move forward step by step,” Mattingly said. “I think the pipe affects the aesthetics of the park. I’d rather put in a new bridge. It’s imperative we do that contract now because there’s money in the budget.”
The longest available pipe for the project, thus far, measures in at 20 feet, which would be an issue for a bridge that needs to stretch at least 40 feet across the creek. If a pipe were long enough to span the distance needed, county engineers said handrails and shoulders could be included within the bridge.
A hydraulic study still has to be done before AE can determine whether piping or concrete would be the best choice for the new bridge.
