Some bridges across county needing work

Renovations to correct a problem with a bridge along SFC 418 are expected to begin in early April, according to SFC Judge Craig Jones. During a recent interview, Jones reported that all materials and equipment are ready to go, but there are logistical questions in play that could hinder the reconstruction effort. According to Jones, the wooden bridge near the Sims Community has been given a six month time period for repairs after the county was determined to be out of compliance by a state order. "The state called us out of compliance on that bridge and gave us six months to repair it,” explained Jones. “I went to the Quorum Court in January and got the money appropriated for that. St. Francis County Road 418 is off of Highway 284 and this is a wooden bridge. One of the few wooden bridges in the county." Jones stated that initially, he sought funding through a grant program to help with the repairs of that the bridge. "I went to a meeting and at the meeting, they mentioned something about some federal government aid to fix bridges," said Jones. "So I applied for the funding. It was a 90%, 10% grant. The government would pay 90% and we would pay 10%. They came over here and looked at it and told me it qualified for the grant. About a year later they had to do a feasibility study and the county had to pay for the study. I sent them a check for $5,000 to start the study, which is the second of about five steps that had to be taken, then the state calls us out of compliance in December 2024." Jones reported that as the grant progressed, he was informed that through the grant, the project wouldn't likely begin until 2027. "I called back over to the office and asked them what we are looking like on the state aid we were to receive," said Jones. "They told me they had the money for us and I asked what the earliest it would be that we could get the job done. They told me it would be potentially approved late this year and they could start on the project in possibly 2027. We couldn't wait that long. We are out of compliance and the state was going to shut that bridge down unless we did something. There is only one way in and one way out of that area. I got our $5,000 back and canceled the project." According to Jones, after canceling the project through the grant, the Quorum Court appropriated around $30,000 for the county to repair the bridge. "I had to go back to the Quorum Court, and we had some money left over in a fuel tax fund that generates about $12,000 per month," said Jones. "We had about $40,000 that rolled over from last year. The Quorum Court appropriated $31,000 or $32,000 to fix that bridge. There is a thing on each side of the bridge called a header. The header is made out of concrete. In the past, they had gone over there, a few years back and poured a header on the west side of the bridge. The east side of the bridge’s header had started to shift. It is safe, but it has started shifting." Jones said the county will not include a culvert at the bridge due to potential issues it could cause in the coming years. "We are going to pour the concrete for the east header and keep it and possibly reinforce the west header," said Jones. "We have ordered steel and the steel is here. We are not going to put a culvert in there because from the bridge surface to the bottom of the Crow Creek tributary that runs through there is around 20 feet. A culvert would be nothing but trouble. We would be spending all of our time out there pulling trees out where it got clogged up. In some cases, and this is one of them, they are rare, but some cases, a bridge is about the only option you have, so that is what we are going to do." According to Jones, once the job is completed, the bridge should be stable and it should be "as good of a bridge as you will find anywhere in the county. "We are going out there right now, we have the steel and we have the lumber and we are going to go out there and shore up the bridge, as far as with the steel," said Jones. "We are going to do some different pilings and other things. Then, we are going to replace the decking, all of the decking on top of it. After this, it should be as good of a bridge as you will find anywhere in the county. It should be stable, it should last and it should be there as long as I am judge." Jones explained that a lot of logistical questions have to be answered before construction begins due to the approximately 13 households located on the other side of the bridge, with the bridge being the one way in and one way out for residents in that area. "Now, the problem is because it is a one way in, one way out kind of deal for about 13 households," said Jones. "There may be some days where we have to close the bridge for the day. We haven't figured out the logistics of that yet. If we can just get that out to them, that would be great. We plan on doing some canvasing as far as going out to them and getting them informed. When they are putting the decking on, according to what the road department is saying, we should be able to do the decking, back off of it, do the rest of it and not have to close it down. This bridge is not in a thoroughfare so the traffic is random and seldom, especially during the day. We are going to try to do it as least invasive as we can." According to Jones, time is a valuable resource at the county level and he is trying to make the time to sit down with the road department for a meeting to answer these logistical questions and concerns. "The project will start either the first or second week of April," said Jones. "We have the materials, I just have to get time to sit down with the road department. Believe it or not, up here, time is a valuable resource. You would think I would have time, but I really haven't had the time to delve into it. This is not something that you halfway delve into, either. This is something that you need to pull your sleeves up and get muddy on. It's not so much the construction that we need to discuss as much as it is the logistics of it. The questions like do we need to build a bridge for them to park on one side and walk to the other. There are a lot of questions like that. We could start tomorrow, we have all of the equipment here, but, I need to actually sit down and have a meeting and get the logistics lined out." Jones also said other bridges have had issues throughout the county, including one near Greasy Corner, one on Highway 261 and another near Tuni, which falls under the Levee District's jurisdiction. ARDOT District 1 Engineer Cannon Callicott said that at this time, both the bridges at Greasy Corner and Hwy. 261 remain closed. “We have some piling to replace under each structure and the water levels have been too high to allow us to get underneath either bridge,” said Callicott. “We are hoping for an opportunity to progress work soon, but rain is once again in the forecast for later this week.” "The one over there on SFC 736, which crosses down there at Tuni, is really a Corps of Engineers bridge. It is in the Levee District. The Levee District is the one that's trying to get their stuff together. The bridge is not out, it is washing away from where you cross the bridge at. We would have fixed it if it was ours to fix, but it is a Levee District deal." Jones said that while the county has no ownership of the bridge along SFC 736, they do have plans to get roads in that area and other areas of the county built up for farmers to get their crops out much easier. "They are talking a bunch of money for that Levee District issue because they are going to have to carry a lot of dirt over there," said Jones. "I don't know how many loads of dirt. It is something that I don't know much about. All I know is that when the farmers tried to get their crops out last year, we spent a lot of money over there trying to build up roads that hadn't been roads in a long time so they could get their crops out. We went over there and did really well. We spent quite a bit of money over there to get roads built back up that are very seldom used so they could get the crops out. "Think about it," continued Jones. "Agriculture is huge here and them getting their crops out, it is time to roll when that happens. We had two different crews in two separate parts of the county going out and putting gravel in and doing stuff like that to try to get the roads where they could get back there and get those crops out.

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