Rebuilding bridges

Nez Perce County’s effort to replace the century-old Cherrylane Bridge has spanned almost two decades, but construction is finally set to begin early next year.

One of the biggest holdups has been the cost, with estimates higher than $20 million at some points. The county won a $15.75 million federal grant in 2018 after five years of unsuccessful applications, leaving officials to look for other funding sources to cover the rest of the cost.

The final engineer’s estimate from the state Local Highway Technical Assistance Council came in at $16,195,348. And when the project was presented to potential contractors, the low bid came in at $15,792,205 from Cascade Bridge LLC of Vancouver, Wash., about $403,000 under the estimate.

Nez Perce County Commissioner Douglas Zenner said state and local officials were overjoyed by the low bid and the fact that the other bids were fairly close.

“They were pretty excited,” Zenner said. “We all did the happy dance when we saw the bid spread. We knew it was a good engineering packet that was presented for bid.”

The other bids were from Clearwater Construction Inc. at $16,645,000 and Knife River Corp. at $17,642,618, according to LHTAC. The agency deemed a bid of $18,849,999 from Garco Construction as “irregular” and did not accept it for consideration.

Zenner said he is hoping Cascade Bridge will be able to use some Nez Perce County subcontractors on the job.

“It’s kind of nice to spread the wealth to your locals too,” he said. “But it’s nice to get a good, reputable outfit to build bridges, especially as important as this one is.”

The existing bridge crosses the Clearwater River from U.S. Highway 12 about 20 miles east of Lewiston. Construction on the single-lane span began in 1919, and it is rated as structurally deficient. It is under a weight restriction of only 4.7 tons per axle, forcing vehicles like loaded dump trucks, grain trucks and tankers from the nearby Nez Perce Tribe fish hatchery to take long detours.

The new bridge will be built approximately 70 feet upstream. According to Cascade Bridge, it will be an 800-foot, four-span steel plate girder bridge with a 12-foot travel lane and 8-foot shoulder in each direction.

Cascade Bridge General Manager Dave Mingo said work this spring will include the widening of the south side of U.S. Highway 12 at the construction site over an approximately 60-day period.

“This will move the traffic to the south, giving room to construct the bridge at the south bank of the river,” Mingo said in an email to the Lewiston Tribune. “The bridge start date is driven by in-stream work provisions for fish protection.”

That work will include bridge foundations and substructure work starting in the summer. Megan Kautz at LHTAC said the contract requires a start date no later than Feb. 10.

The groups involved in the project have been working to design, fund and build a new bridge since 2002. But Zenner said the county gained a lot of knowledge from the experience that will be useful for its next major bridge replacement project, Lenore Bridge.

“It’s been very educational,” he said. “It’s a learning process for everybody, especially me. I enjoyed learning about all the stuff that was needed and pilings and drillings. It’s going to be nice to see that puppy get started, believe me.”

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.