The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved an agreement for the use of a local agency Road as a detour, while a short bridge on Highway 92, one-mile west of Highway 148, is being replaced near Massena. Engineer Charles Marker said the County detour request came from the Iowa Department of Transportation. The detour would take traffic along Highway 148 north and east of Massena to County Road G-43. From there over to N-28 (The Cumberland Road), and back south to Highway 92. The project is expected to begin sometime between August 1^st and conclude by October 31^st, and will take about four weeks, weather permitting.

In other business, Engineer Charles Marker presented before the Supervisors a 5-year (2014-to 2019) Bridge construction plan as required by the DOT.

Cass County Engineer Charles Marker’s 5-year bridge replacement plan for the IA DOT.

The plan will appear in his DOT budget when it is submitted to them. Marker says in the current fiscal year, bidding was let on Bridge #345, with Murphy Construction the low bidder. Construction began in Oct. 2012 with bridge 345. He says as of the end of the Federal Fiscal Year 2012 which ended September 31^st, the County had $879, 741 in its account. The County is allocated approximately $400,000 per year for bridge projects.

That’s federal money the County receives from the Road Use Tax and other taxing entities. Marker says projects are an 80/20 match, which means the county must pay for 20-percent of the costs. He says there will be two more bridge projects coming up this next Fiscal Year. Marker says there are three bridges that have an estimated life expectancy of “zero years,” or are approaching the “Critical point” for replacement, according to the latest bridge inspection report. Marker says two of those bridges have already been taken care of, but did not show as being repaired, while another is under contract to be repaired or replaced. He says his department is trying to stay ahead of the required bridge replacement schedule.

Cass County 5-year Road repair plan

Marker says as far as repairs on County roads are concerned, two are included in next year’s budget: G-43 from Lewis to Highway 71, and N-56, from the Atlantic Airport Road south, to Highway 6. Those projects are also included in Marker’s 5-year construction report to the DOT.