The City of Newton has closed the bridge on Third Avenue until further notice after the bridge failed inspection.
According to city officials, the state ordered the bridge to be closed within 24 hours. The Newton Board of Mayor and Aldermen will discuss their options at their next board on Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m.
The Newton County Board of Supervisors, which received funding for bridge replacement for the county, will also meet Monday, Oct. 4, at 10 a.m. at the Newton County Courthouse in Decatur.
In 2016, the Newton County Board of Supervisors approved a $203,209.67 contract from Magco Inc., from Laurel to replace wooden pilings on First, Third and Pilate avenues in Newton. After the work was completed later that year, all three bridges passed county and state inspections and were opened to traffic.
However, federal inspectors conducted inspections in 2017 and found two wooden pilings behind a bricked section underneath the Pilate Avenue bridge, forcing the closure of one lane of the bridge to traffic. Those pilings were later replaced and the bridge was completely reopened.
County Engineer Duane Stanford said in 2017 the county originally was going to replace all three bridges and he had even drawn up plans for all three bridges, but the state didn’t fund the Local System Bridge Program, which provides counties and municipalities with funding for bridge maintenance. The county only had about $200,000 to replace the pilings and a total replacement for the bridges would have cost around $450,000 at that time.
