To save $1 million in repairs plus the cost of future maintenance, Campbell County has voted to place a bid on projects to remove the bridge on Boyd Road that runs over Phillips Creek in Grant’s Lick.
Because the bridge is large and sits at an odd angle with a traffic count of about 76 cars per day, the cost to fix it outweighed its use, according to the county. To replace the bridge would cost an estimated $1.2-$1.3 million. The county has recommended removing the bridge and widening Herringer Road to reroute traffic.
Wednesday’s fiscal court action was not committing to doing those plans but requesting permission to bid on those two projects to receive final costs. The final decision, according to the court, will be in a couple of months.
“That doesn’t solve any alignment issues,” Campbell County Administrator Matt Elberfeld said. “There’s a center abutment in the water that creates maintenance difficulties, and the angle at which Boyd comes in, it’s hard to make safe turn off of that bridge. So, spending $1.3 million to replace the bridge for 76 cars a day and not solving any of the issues that have caused it to need to be replaced didn’t seem like the best idea.”
Elberfeld said the county looked at alternatives to replacing the bridge, including building a different alignment to cross over Phillips Creek. However, that would also require over $1 million and property acquisition. He said it was the recommendation of the road supervisor and the hired engineering firm to remove the bridge and widen and add a lane to Herringer Road—a cost of about $400,000.
Instead of crossing Boyd Road where the bridge is, Elberfeld said residential traffic would reroute down Herringer Road, into the Darlington Creek neighborhood, and out onto U.S. 27. He said the county measured for excess travel distance—about 1,000 extra feet to access U.S. 27.
“That intersection at U.S. 27 is a safer intersection, has a better turn, and the cost is significantly cheaper,” Elberfeld said.
Campbell County Commissioner Geoff Besecker said at the meeting that it had been discussed that some of the traffic over the bridge could come from nearby Grant’s Lick Elementary School; however, the school has plans to build a new facility elsewhere.
“So, a lot of that traffic through that traffic study, the idea is much of that is from Grant’s Lick Elementary?” Besecker said.
The county did two different traffic studies, Elberfeld said, to try to gauge school traffic—one during February and March and one during April when the school was on spring break. He said it dropped about 15 cars a day when school was out. Even with the school traffic, he said, they averaged three to four cars an hour.
Campbell County Commissioner Brian Painter asked Wednesday if Herringer had enough right-of-way and ditching on the road for the project.
Ditching may need to be redone, Elberfeld said, but there should be enough existing right-of-way for no property acquisition to be required. He also said the alternative route eliminates future maintenance issues with the bridge.
