Crow Creek Bridge to open in about four weeks

FAIRFIELD – The residents of Fairfield are about four weeks away from being able to use the new bridge east of town.

The bridge on East Burlington Avenue over Crow Creek has been closed since April, forcing residents to take about a 5-minute detour on Glasgow Road when they want to access Highway 34 East. Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson said the contractor hired to rebuild the bridge is a little ahead of schedule, and that the bridge should open between mid- to late-September. The city originally expected the bridge to open around Oct. 1.

“We will be opening it by the time harvest is ready, which was our goal all along,” Carlson said.

The new bridge will be a little wider and a little longer than the old one, though Carlson said “only an engineer” would notice the difference. However, the general public will notice a difference in the driveway that leads to Parkview Care Center just east of the bridge. As part of this project, the city moved Parkview’s driveway to the east so it wasn’t so close to the bridge.

“It’s always been a safety hazard with how close that driveway was to the bridge,” Carlson said. “There have been some accidents there, so we chose to relocate it.”

Carlson said the problem with the driveway wasn’t related to line-of-sight, but rather the fact that motorists were surprised to come upon stalled turning traffic so close to a bridge.

When East Burlington Avenue is reopened at that location in the next month, the Fairfield Loop Trail that has also been closed since April will reopen as well. A portion of the trail had to close because it went underneath the bridge. Carlson said residents should notice improvements to the retaining wall that improve drainage and limit the amount of dirt and water that wash onto the trail at that spot.

Speaking of road construction notifications, Carlson presented an idea to the Fairfield City Council Monday night, Aug. 26, to acquire an app that would notify residents of news related to road closures and openings, no parking at certain times, or other city business. The app is one used by Wapello County Emergency Management Agency, and Carlson said Jefferson County could acquire it for just over $7,000.

Carlson pitched the prospect of splitting the cost of the app with Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency, whereby the EMA would pay half and the city would pay half.

“Wapello County residents really like it, at least the ones we talked to, and I’ve looked into it and think it’s a great app,” Carlson said. “We’ll see what the EMA board says about it.”

Carlson said that in addition to notifying residents of road construction, the app could disseminate information that is now included in residents’ water bills such as brush pick-up days. Carlson said she was inspired to look into this matter after reading an article in the Southeast Iowa Union about how the City of Washington notifies its residents of snow-related parking alerts.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com