Logan County to explore repairs to keep County Road 26 bridge open

Logan County commissioners said they will explore repairs to keep the County Road 26 bridge near County Road 29 open after farmers, residents and a utility representative described the effects of closure at an Oct. 20 hearing. The commissioners did not vote on a closure or repair plan, according to the meeting recording and transcript.

Warren Burmer, who said he lives about an eighth of a mile from the bridge and farms nearby, told commissioners that closure would add four to six miles to trips to reach his equipment and fields. He also described truck traffic backing up and detouring, including onto U.S. Highway 14, and said three feedlots are within four miles of the bridge.

Manuel Lowe, representing Highline Electric, said the company was building a power line to serve customers north of Highway 14 and crews were stringing wire across the bridge that day. He said closure would complicate the utility’s reliability, customer service and line maintenance. Other speakers described the bridge as a convenient route for nearby residents and farm operations.

The commission chair said the bridge had deteriorated supports, inspectors had raised concerns and the weight limit was about 10 tons, or 20,000 pounds. The chair also said the county had applied for bridge grants. During the hearing, a commissioner cited replacement costs of about $1.3 million and later referred to $1.5 million.

After the hearing, a commissioner said the county would look at ways to repair the bridge and keep it open. The commissioner described investigating a deck spanning up to 30 feet with prestressed or arched panels and new buttresses. He said a box culvert would not work because the ditch is too wide, and that the deck was in better condition than the splintering tops of the pilings.