From the Capital-Journal
The Shawnee County commissioners will hear an update Thursday on the dilapidated Willard Bridge in northwest Shawnee County.
Tom Vlach, public works director, will present the update when Commissioners Kevin Cook, Shelly Buhler and Bob Archer meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in Room B-11 of the county courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th.
Information about the presentation wasn’t available Tuesday, but Vlach has given frequent updates on the condition of the structurally deficient bridge for months. In March, commissioners called for weekly inspections after multiple holes caused by corrosion were found in the floor beam on the north end of the bridge.
The Willard Bridge is located along the county’s western edge on N.W. Carlson Road, about 2.7 miles north of Interstate 70. It was built in 1955 and widened in 1983. The bridge is the same type as the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
The county applied June 5 for a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant. Shawnee County requested $16.7 million of a total $500 million available and should know by the end of September whether those funds will be granted.
Kansas Department of Transportation had agreed in late June to advance Shawnee County between $7 million and $10 million in interest-free loans for replacing the bridge.
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