The Mathews Road bridges, which his made of wood, has been closed since last fall because Caltrans would no longer give it a load rating. Replacing the bridge has been estimated to cost more than $850,000. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

LAKE COUNTY – With Lake County's aging bridge inventory in need of replacement or serious repair, county officials are looking at ways to set priorities in order to get the work done quickly and maximize dwindling funding sources.

Lake County is home to 122 bridges, according to county Roads Supervisor Steve Stangland.

Many of those bridges are decades old – 50 and 60 years in some cases.

In recent years, the county has completed some major bridge repair and replacement projects, including the Merritt Road bridge, finished in December 2007.

In some areas of the county there are a few wooden bridges left, giving rise to issues such as rotted timbers and decks.

Public Works Director Brent Siemer said the wood bridges, a holdover from a time when wood was the more acceptable and common building material, now are being phased out.

In October of 2007, a small, single lane wooden bridge on Witter Springs Road had deteriorated to the point where it had a hole worn in it, as Lake County News has reported. The 55-year-old bridge, spanning Dayle Creek, was replaced with a 17-foot steel structure that was 2 feet wider and had asphalt approaches, opening in February of 2008.

That project was finished in house at a cost of $40,000, significantly less than the $100,000 that it normally would have cost.

However, using unused materials from other projects and not having to replace that bridge's abutments saved the county money, Stangland said.

Over this past the winter, thanks to dry conditions, Public Works was able to replace two other wooden bridges – one on Bartlett Springs Road and the other, a 28-foot span, on Sylar Lane, Stangland said.

Still needing replacement are wooden bridges on Ackley and one on Mathews Road off of Highway 175. The latter bridge's replacement costs are estimated to be more than $850,000.

In an effort to prioritize its bridge repair needs, the county's Department of Public Works crafted a bridge replacement list with 30 spans on it – from multiple bridges on Soda Bay and Seigler Canyon roads to Clayton Creek Road, Highland Springs Road and Perini Road at Perini Creek.

Four roads – including Mathews Road at Manning Creek, Merritt Road at Hill Creek, Bridge Arbor Road South and Holdenried Road at Hill Creek – currently are closed because of the condition of their bridges.

The total estimated cost to replace all of the 30 bridges is approximately $15,965,000.

Picking priorities

Siemer told the Board of Supervisors last week that his department maintains all of the county's 122 bridges – both short and long spans – which includes everything from storm damage to sweeping.

The county does biannual inspections of the short spans – which measure less than 20 feet – while Caltrans inspects those bridges 20 feet and longer, said Siemer.

Within the last 12 months, the county has had six bridge closures and two emergency bridge replacements, said Siemer. The wooden bridges are failing because they are older structures that are rotting.

Design has been completed on six of the bridges, including Bridge Arbor Road South, Mocking Bird Lane, Clark Drive at Cole Creek, Fritch Road and Highland Springs Road at Highland Creek.

Siemer said they've been able to use Bailey bridges – a temporary, military-type construction that looks like an erector set – as a good short-term solution. Those bridges come in 10-foot sections. There currently are four Bailey bridges around the county, with a total length of 190 feet.

That work was put into the priorities matrix that Siemer took to the board last Tuesday. Included in that matrix are weighted factors used to decide which bridges need to be finished first, including traffic volumes and functional classifications, structural condition, detour factor and public safety.

He told the board that they want to put up a Bailey bridge on Merritt. “That will deplete our inventory of Bailey bridges,” he said.

The bridges are a fairly inexpensive option, said Siemer, estimating that 60 feet of Bailey bridge costs $80,000. He said he's trying to purchase another 30 feet of Bailey bridge for the county.

Public Works worked with Quincy Engineers to assess all of the county's bridges, a task completed in May, Siemer said.

Siemer told the board that his primary funding sources for bridge repair and replacement are Proposition 1B, the federal gas fund and the State Transportation Improvement Project.

The county receives 80 percent reimbursement from the federal bridges program, which has a five-year processing time frame and comes with what Siemer called “baggage” – i.e., increased regulations and requirements for environmental and other assessments.

The top 10 bridges listed as priorities were included both because of need and due to design work being finished on several of them, he said.

One of those listed is on Merritt Road at Hill Creek , which “last month jumped out and bit me,” said Siemer.

Board members questioned how Siemer arrived at the list. Supervisor Rob Brown asked if he had consulted fire districts in determining priorities. Board Chair Denise Rushing suggested a rating scale of zero to 10 might be good, with the added consideration of economic factors. Supervisor Jeff Smith wanted to add in public safety and alternative funding sources to the matrix.

Siemer noted that in the past Public Works “made it up as it went” when it came to replacing bridges.

He said he was bringing the prioritization matrix to the board for guidance and feedback. “I want to have a tool so we're not constantly changing our direction.”

There are threats to state and federal funding that Siemer said he had to keep in mind. He's also considering public-private partnerships, such as working with a property owner on Arbor South who will put up about one-third of the cost for materials, while the county puts up another third and other funding makes up the balance.

An example of one serious bridge repair situation is on Mathews Road.

Siemer said last year Caltrans was reviewing the bridge and had reduced its loading factor. Local fire districts and school districts were notified not to use the aging wooden structure, but when Caltrans was out doing an assessment a school bus drove right over it.

“Even though we put load ratings out there, it doesn't mean somebody is going to obey that,” said Siemer, noting that as a result Caltrans wouldn't give the bridge a load rating.

That bridge needs to be replaced and given a wider alignment. There will be archaeological and biological issues, he said.

If the county builds the bridge this year, it will cost $667,250. If they have to wait, the cost is estimated to rise to $856,250 in five years. Siemer said his department can work with the Community Development Department on the bridge's engineering.

In response to broad suggestions, Siemer said a Bailey bridge or railcar won't work as a solution because of the bridge's narrow alignment.

Brown said the Merritt Road bridge was critical to fix because numerous families live around it. Siemer said that as soon as the final budget is approved, he'll use about $20,000 to get that bridge completed.

During the meeting Kelseyville Fire Battalion Chief Joe Huggins provided response time information relating to Merritt Road. When the bridge is passable they can travel a mile and a half and respond to the area in about three minutes. However, if the bridge can't be crossed, response time rises to more than eight minutes because firefighters have to drive an additional four and a half miles.

He called the Merritt Road bridge a “top priority.”

Supervisor Anthony Farrington said former Public Works Director Jerry Shaul had said there was a potential to save $200,000 on the Mathews project if more of the work was done in house. Siemer said county ordinance requires that they go outside of county departments on projects that exceed $125,000 in cost. However, Siemer said he can override that as road commissioner, although local contractors are likely to complain.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox noted that the $125,000 restriction has been in place for all county projects for “a long time.”

The board ended by voting to approve the bridge priority matrix with some modifications, including consideration of economic impacts. They also directed staff to begin doing environmental work on the Mathews Road bridge project.

Stangland said Monday that he's talking to fire districts to add in their input and response times to areas where bridges need repair. The matrix will then be reshuffled.

The board also, by consensus, directed staff to look into Bailey bridges as fixes for Mathews and some of the other areas of major need.

Stangland said he has ordered additional Bailey bridge sections to install at the Merritt Road crossing, to be in place “long before the rains come.”

At Smith's suggestions, Stangland also will go to Redding to look at a Bailey bridge for sale, because the county has used all of its Bailey bridge sections.

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