News

Bridge work moves forward

Scott Wagar

05/13/2014

In Bottineau County on May 6, the leadership of Bottineau County, the city of Bottineau and the Oak Creek Water Board came together to fix the Fifth Street Bridge in the city.

“We have decided we are going to replace the structure that was there with the same size pipe that is in there now, but the pipes are going to be longer, be flared and have sections on them,” said Ritch Gimble, road superintendent for Bottineau County. “The bridge aspect of it will be gone and there will not be drop off walls on it.”

Two weeks ago, the bridge started to washout after water from Oak Creek infiltrated underneath and on the sides of the culvert pipe on the east side of the bridge, which dropped the culvert down, cracked the cement on the bridge and caused the pavement on top of the bridge to cave in. A short time after the east culvert dropped, the west culvert began to fail.

As a precautionary method, the county, who is in charge of all bridges in the cities of Bottineau County, immediately closed Fifth Street at the bridge.

The new culverts have been ordered at an estimated cost of $30,000 and will take at least six weeks to be delivered to Bottineau.

While waiting for the culverts to arrive, the Oak Creek Water Board is going to attempt to get the water flowing through Oak Creek as fast as it can so the county can start repairs.

“They are trying to push as much water through as safely as they can so in six to seven weeks the water will be down so we can start some construction,” Gimble said.

Once the culverts are installed and the cement work is completed, the city will come in and replace the sidewalk, curb and gutter and the pavement.

As the county, city and water board waits for the water to go down in the creek, and for the parts to arrive in town, they are asking for individuals understanding during this time.

“We are asking for people’s patience,” Gimble said. “We are working as hard as we can on this because we know it is an important route into Bottineau.”

The overall cost of the project is going to be estimated at $60,000 and will be cost shared by the county, city and Oak Creek Water Board. The county is to pay 60 percent, while the city and water board will each cover 20 percent.

On Monday evening, the city council members approved the city’s portion of the project.