According to County Engineer Tim Schulte, the segment of road in question hasn’t been overlayed in years. He described it as being in “poor condition,” the “weakest link” of a country road that has been restored and otherwise competed over recent years, and currently stands in excellent condition (albeit under an inch of ice and snow). The bridge, No. 1-18-35, has been closed since it was damaged by the 2009 flood. The area where the Wild Rice River overflowed - leading to evacuations, impressive community volunteering efforts and heavy sandbagging - is still recovering.
Normally, the highway department only proposes one project, usually a bridge, per year, as it did last year when it used $400,000 allocated through the American Reconstruction and Rebuilding Act (ARRA) to repair Richland Road 3. However, the severity of the damage done to the Hankinson bridge has created a sense of urgency in getting its repair started as soon as possible.
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The bridge project is the department’s primary concern, though it is ready to begin work on both of its projects. The department has already submitted its proposal, which includes such details as the estimated costs of the projects, site locations and particularly any potential environmental impact the project might have on local wetlands. Schulte said they are simply waiting for the necessary funds to be approved by Congress. Once it has been given the go-ahead, the department will start taking bids from contractors.
Despite its readiness, organizing the bridge project is expected to be a daunting, difficult challenge, Schulte said. Contractors must have their proposals approved by the department before November. Nine months is a considerably brief time to conceive of, design and outline a project of this scope. In contrast, the much simpler Richland Road 3 project, which needs to be approved before May, only takes a few weeks to outline.
The nearly $1.2 million being requested by the county for local repairs is 100 percent federal, and would not require any local money. In fact, the only financial risk taken by the county derives from paying out design costs, which is negligible.
"(These projects) will be a decent boost to the construction economy," said Schulte, in his office Monday.
While the department would actually only be hiring one person, their contractor, that contractor would in turn hire dozens of employees, rent out necessary equipment, and purchase numerous needed materials all locally, which would be of great benefit even to a state currently operating “in the black.”
For more information on how federal monies are being spent on North Dakota's road systems, visit the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) site at www.dot.nd.gov.
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