OKLAHOMA CITY – A contract was awarded Monday to replace a rural Tillman County bridge approximately seven and one-half miles northeast of Grandfield, and to repave a nearly four-mile section of US-62 just west of Altus.
The aged Tillman County bridge spans Deep Red Creek on north/south County Road 245 (the Tillman/Cotton county line) about two-tenths of a mile north of east/west County Road 188.
The bridge is not on mail or school bus routes “but that could change” after a new, bigger and stronger bridge is installed at that location, District 3 Tillman County Commissioner Kent Smith said Monday.
The only other crossing over Deep Red Creek in that area “that’s acceptable for transportation” is several miles distant, on SH-36, Smith said.
The existing bridge is a 16-foot-wide, one-lane pony truss structure that is load-limited to a maximum of six tons; consequently, nothing “big and heavy” such as a modern tractor can cross the bridge, Smith noted. There are several farms in that area.
The narrow bridge has a wooden deck was that replaced “about 10 years ago,” Smith said.
The age of the bridge is unknown because metal plaques previously bolted onto the ends of the structure have long since been removed, Smith said.
Another bridge approximately half a mile south of the Deep Red Creek crossing that has a concrete deck but no side rails, plus a bridge south of Grandfield, also need to be replaced, Smith said, “but there’s not enough money” to finance those projects.
The existing bridge may be salvaged for sale, the commissioner said. “People like to buy those and put them across a pond or a creek on their property,” as a novelty, he said.
The state Transportation Commission awarded an $888,257 contract to Sewell Brothers to construct a two-lane, steel-reinforced concrete bridge over Deep Red Creek.
The dirt roadway approaching the ends of the new bridge will be paved in crushed rock, Smith said. “We don’t fix a road to a bad bridge, because that would increase the traffic count” at the crossing, he explained.
Sewell Brothers’ bid was the lowest of seven for the bridge replacement job and was almost 8% lower than the project engineer’s estimate. Both facts were surprising in view of the remote location of the crossing.
The Oklahoma City company was given 120 days to complete the project after the requisite paperwork is signed and a work order is issued.
The Transportation Commission also awarded a contract Monday to repave a four-lane section of US-62 in asphalt: from about County Road 198 a mile west of the SH-6 junction extending east for 3.1 miles to near County Road 201.
Cornell Construction Co. of Clinton, the sole bidder, was awarded a $2.63 million contract on the project. The job is to be finished within 90 days after a work order is issued, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation reported.
Average daily traffic volume on the affected section of US-62 is approximately 4,400 vehicles at the eastern end and about 3,100 at the western end, ODOT records reflect.
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