Panel prepares to pay to stop bridge erosion|[07/12/07]

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 12, 2007

Costs associated with controlling erosion and pier movement on the old U.S. 80 bridge across the Mississippi River will put a dent in the bridge commission’s reserves in the coming year – just how much depends on how far the project goes.

The appointed board of managers for the Warren County-owned span OK’d a $2.2 million budget for 2007-08, showing a net increase in expenses totaling $794,800.

The bulk of the increase comes from efforts to stop soil moving against the 77-year-old bridge’s shorter piers, or bents, and soil anchoring expected to be the fix for pier 2’s gradual movement to the west.

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&#8220I’ve measured it (the movement) at 9 and five-eighths,” superintendent Herman Smith said.

Trains still use the bridge that continues to pass all safety inspections. It was designed to withstand some soil movement, but engineers recommend stabilizing bents nearest the Mississippi bank. In June, bridge officials approved the first $75,000 for engineering analysis.

In the new budget, structural repair costs are forecast to cost $1.5 million, with the bank work expected to run $2.5 million.

&#8220We just have to decide how much to spend and when,” Robert Moss, board chairman, said.

Addressing the movement of pier 2 will be the more expensive venture, pegged at $10 million, according to most independent estimates.

The bridge’s structural engineering firm, Baton Rouge-based HNTB, is also working to repair a windshear device and other structures at the pier.

As for its cash flow, the commission expects $1.2 million to come from lease payments from Kansas City Southern Railway, a figure based on actual amounts paid.

Those payments again totaled just $3.75 per car in May, reflected in the rail company’s $104,846.25 payment to the bridge commission for the month’s train traffic.

The commission has billed at a rate of $14 per car, but has not been paid at that amount. The panel has accumulated reserves, but is also exploring other funding sources for the major repairs.

The traffic for June was reported by the railway at 28,658 cars, up from May and approaching the 30,000 mark. A record 32,094 crossed the Mississippi River through Vicksburg in March.

Lease payments for 2007 total more than $400,000, a fraction of what the revenue would be at the rate the commission wants.

Calculations done every month on the commission’s agenda show the commission’s reserves would be $2,027,396 richer had the railroad paid $14 per car.

In business related to ongoing construction involving its former roadbed, currently being replaced in sections by T.L. Wallace Construction, the panel referred to its legal counsel a letter from a landowner near its right-of-way on the Louisiana side.

Commissioners discussed a letter from Robert Burney Long Jr., a Georgia resident claiming ownership of land currently leased by hunting clubs.

In the letter, Long said he is related to those who in 1928 sold the property to the Vicksburg Bridge Company, which completed work on the bridge in 1930.

One of four dirt roads carved into the brush underneath the bridge piers is open for hunting clubs to access property leased to them, commissioners said.

The commission indicated it will keep the other three closed while construction on the bridge continues, citing security reasons

People not known to be part of the hunting club, including children, have been known to ride all-terrain vehicles up and down the pathways, making for a dangerous situation near the construction work overhead.

&#8220These are not hunters, OK. These are people riding around,” Smith said.