Deficient county bridge closed; weight limits changed on 3

Jefferson County supervisors approved a resolution to adopt the Bridge Inspections and Posted Ratings in the 2012 Bridge Report today ? delaying it last week to give new county engineer Scott Cline an opportunity to visit four deficient bridges.

One of those Jefferson County deficient bridges on Amber Avenue, a pony truss construction, will be closed to traffic.

?The truss is deteriorating and bending,? said Cline. ?I agree with the proposal to close it. We?ll have to post signs at each end of Amber Avenue. It?s designated as a local road.

?If we remove the bridge and its abutments, and create a new, low-water crossing, it will cost about $90,000 to $95,000,? he said. ?A current improvised crossing on the creek is off the roadway. We?d need to align a low-water crossing with the roadway, so the bridge would need to be removed.?

Supervisors chairman Steve Burgmeier said regular vehicles cannot use the improvised crossing, it?s too rough.

?Farm equipment can access the improvised crossing,? said Burgmeier. ?Another possibility is to make it a gated road, a road level C.?

The other three deficient bridges, one on Elm Avenue; one on 220th Street 1.5 miles east of Batavia; and one crossing the east branch of Lick Creek at Grass Tree Avenue, will each have lower weight limits posted.

?We have to do what?s recommended for safety,? said supervisor Dick Reed.

Reed also asked Cline about his view of 185th Street.

?I did look at it, and I?d like to know if it?s a local road or a farm-to-market road,? said Cline. ?I need to check if it?s been submitted and check the status.

?Temporarily, it?s on the schedule this week to do some patching. Previous patching doesn?t seem to last. We could reduce the speed from 45 mph to 35 mph, or place a temporary embargo on the road, especially while under repair; such as a 20,000 tons weight limit.

?Long term on 185th, is remove some of the materials there and replace with better material,? said Cline. ?I?d like to do more analysis of traffic there, volume and types of loads as well as an analysis of materials. I?m afraid there?s no quick, easy costless solution.?

Burgmeier said the county had a few roads it wants to reclassify farm-to-market roads, such as Butternut and old Highway 34.

Cline said he thought those and 185th Street had been submitted, and he would check.

?I?m really concerned about the safety issues,? said Reed. ?I appreciate your research, but we need something now ? signage or blinking lights or something because there are some spots on 185th that are really bad.?

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt said it seems everywhere the county worked on roads last year is breaking up.

?I?m not assigning any blame,? he said. ?We tried something different, and it didn?t work.?

Cline said he?d have county crews put up some construction signs when they worked on 185th.

Dimmitt said he had a conversation with Rebecca Huggins, director of Fairfield Public Library.

?She has some concerns about their IT [information technology] position,? he said. ?They?ve gone through quite a few and would like to be able to increase the pay for that position to try to keep someone in the job longer.?

Burgmeier said the Jefferson County Area Ambulance Service has filed a couple letters of intent after a board meeting last week.

?We?ll have a different service within 90 days,? he said. ?We don?t know if that will be public or private.?

Reed said he returned to live in Fairfield in 1976, and it seems every few years there are problems with ambulance service. He said he was on the ambulance board when he served on city council and is aware of some of the difficulties.

?It all comes down to money,? he said.

?Have we looked at what other counties are doing?? asked Reed. ?Are they having the same problems??

Burgmeier said many ambulance services are hospital-based.

?Some counties have privately owned ambulance services, but they also have a bigger tax base,? said Burgmeier. ?The reimbursement rate is a problem whether it?s private insurance or Medicare, Medicaid. The tipping point came, I think, when Blue Cross Blue Shield stopped reimbursing at 100 percent and went to 65 percent.

?The hospital is at its levy rate of 27-cents [per $1,000 valuation] for ambulance,? said Burgmeier.

Reed said it was time to find a good, working model and see how it works.

?It?s time to do something different,? said Reed. ?I?d rather see keeping a private company than a government-run service, there?s too many layers and costs.?