The Thompson Road bridge over the Saline River (Thompson Road from Elm Creek Road to Lockard Road) will be reopened late this afternoon following completion of the construction of a new superstructure for the bridge. The existing bridge piers and abutments were modified to accept the new bridge superstructure which consists of prestressed concrete beams and a cast-in-place concrete deck. This project was designed and all necessary bid documents prepared by the Engineering Division of the Saline County Road and Bridge Department. In addition, crews from the Road and Bridge Department constructed much of the earthen embankment associated with this project following completion of the bridge construction by the contractor.

The bridge was closed in June 2014 due to growing concerns about the structural integrity and load-carrying capacity of the bridge superstructure. Five bids were received on December 15, 2014 from contractors vying for the project. A contract for $494,293.00 was awarded to the low bidder, L & M Contractors, Inc. on January 20, 2015 by the Saline Board of County Commissioners.

The Saline County Engineering Division submitted this bridge to KDOT last fall for consideration to receive funds from KDOT’s newly created, competitive Local Bridge Improvement Program. That program set aside $10 million to be used to repair/rehabilitate/replace bridges in the 105 counties in the State of Kansas. If distributed equally, that would be about $95,000 per county.  However, KDOT awarded Saline County $160,000 towards the work needed on this bridge. The remainder of the funding required for the project came from Saline County’s Bridge and Culvert Replacement Account (a.k.a. “Fund 125”).