In October of 2009 the Board of Supervisors approved the installation of a temporary Bailey bridge over Manning Creek on Mathews Road. Photo by John Jensen.

LAKEPORT – People who live along Mathews Road or travel through that area in Lakeport have an extra reason to be thankful this week.

Mathews Road, which meets Highway 175 leading to the Hopland Grade, was reopened at the end of the day Wednesday with a newly installed Bailey bridge.

County Road Superintendent Steve Stangland said the road crew was expected to have the work done by Christmas, “but due to the road crew's dedication, expertise and good weather we were able to finish before Thanksgiving,” he said.

Stangland said the road and approaches will be chip sealed next spring when good, warm weather returns.

“This will be temporary until funding becomes available for a permanent replacement,” he said.

He said the county used half of the Bailey bridge inventory that the Board of Supervisors purchased earlier this year from a private individual for $86,000, a considerable savings over the $240,000 it would have cost to buy the sections new from the manufacturer.

The Mathews Road project cost approximately $65,000 plus three weeks of staff time, according to Stangland.

County Road Superintendent Steve Stangland, who was checking out the bridge on Wednesday, said his road crew used half of the county's Bailey bridge inventory to complete the project on Mathews Road. Photo by John Jensen.

The project's funding came through the Highway Users Tax Act (HUTA), road funding derived from gas tax.

It's also a critical funding source that the state keeps threating to take away cities and counties, Stangland said. If that were to happen, projects like the Mathews Road bridge would no longer happen, and the county could face having to lay off members of its road crew.

Mathews Road has been closed at Manning Creek since June of 2008, because the old bridge was no longer passable.

Faced with an estimate of a full bridge replacement costing $600,000 and $850,000 – which is what it would cost to build the bridge to federal standards in order to be considered for grant funding – the Board of Supervisors voted in October to install a temporary 70-foot Bailey bridge span to get the road reopened, as Lake County News has reported.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington had asked the board to consider the Bailey bridge option in order to finally get the road reopened.

Bailey bridges come in 10-foot sections and can be put together like an erector set to offer a temporary solution for a bridge outage, Public Works Director Brent Siemer told the board in July.

They're also relatively inexpensive – Siemer estimated 60 feet of Bailey bridge costs around $80,000 – and, while technically temporary, the Bailey bridge spans are dependable and have been used for years in some places around the county.

Siemer reported previously that there are four other Bailey bridges around the county, measuring a total of 190 feet.

On Wednesday Stangland was thankful for the work his road crew put in to get the road reopened.

“Our road staff are the real heroes,” he said. “Without their knowledge and dedication, none of this would be possible.”

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A county road crew was hard at work on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, working to finish the installation of the bridges over Manning Creek on Mathews Road. The road has been closed since June of 2008 because the hold bridge became unpassable. The Bailey bridge can be seen suspended over part of the old bridge's cement base. Photo by John Jensen.