The Newton County Board of Supervisors and the City of Newton at Thursday’s meeting discussed the next step in replacing timber pilings on the Pilate Avenue bridge in Newton.
In June 2016, the Supervisors approved a $203,209.67 contract from Magco Inc., from Laurel to replace wooden pilings on First, Third and Pilate avenues. After the work was completed later that year, all three bridges passed county and state inspections and were opened to traffic. However, federal inspectors recently conducted inspections 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.
On Thursday, County Engineer Duane Stanford said that the federal government has begun to give extra scrutiny to bridges with timber pilings, especially those that are more than three decades old.
“They’re going after timber bridges. This is everybody in the state’s problem, and the federal government is cracking down on them,” Stanford said. “So, all we can do is go in there and fix it.”
Stanford said the county and state inspectors’ method of checking timber pilings for safety was to tap them with a hammer. If the hammer breaks through the surface, the pilings have to be replaced. Stanford said the two pilings in question passed the hammer inspections but that federal inspectors use the method of drilling into the pilings and found rot inside.
Newton Mayor Murray Weems, Newton Public Works Director Fred Snow and Ward 2 Alderman Bob Bridges attended the meeting to ask the county to assist the city with the installing of the new pilings.
Weems said the city has 11 workers to work on the repairs, but they may need extra assistance from county workers.
Snow said the city has not yet decided whether the city will do the work themselves or hire a contractor and whether they will replace the timber pilings with concrete ones or replace the rotten sections with new wood.
Stanford said 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.
The supervisors agree to allow county workers to assist with the project when it gets underway.
Stanford also said the Office of State Aid Road Construction had approved the $2.5 million project to replace the Chunky River Bridge, also known as Rattlin’ Bridge. Board President Joe Alexander said that although the project has been approved, it could take up to three years to start construction.
