Residents and business owners on Pilate Avenue are upset that the federal bridge inspectors have closed one lane of the bridge after two wooden pilings were not replaced during bridge repairs last year.
Eva McDonald, who is a former alderwoman and owns a preschool on the road, asked city officials last week why her road was the only one affected and what the city will be able to do about it.
Last year, 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.
While all three bridges passed inspections by the county and state, federal bridge inspectors examined the bridges closely. After clearing a bricked section underneath the Pilate Avenue bridge, federal inspectors found two wooden pilings that were not replaced.
Public Works Director Fred Snow said that they were forced to close the lane under which the two wooden pilings are located. Snow also added that County Engineer Duane Sanford indicated the county is not planning to do any additional work on the bridge.
“Duane never did get back with me on a (quote) because they decided that they did everything they were going to do on it, and they turned it back over to the city. And it’s our problem now.” Snow said. “Speaking to the engineer, and Mrs. McDonald was there, he told us when they got through with it, there was no warranty on that bridge. And I was like, really? They did all this work and you spent all this money on it and there’s no warranty on it?”
Board attorney Robert Logan questioned if this wasn’t a breach of contract because the company failed to replace two wooden pilings, which caused it to fail inspection. However, his questions to the county supervisors went unanswered.
Mayor Murray Weems recommended that the city send the county a letter asking them to help remedy the situation.
On May 3, 2016, the Newton Board of Aldermen unanimously agreed to let the county to replace the wooden pilings on the three bridges. Snow said the county contacted him because they could replace the wooden pilings with steel pilings on all three bridges instead of replacing just one of the three bridges.
Prior to the repairs, all three bridges didn’t had weight restrictions so low that garbage trucks and school buses couldn’t cross the bridges.
However, McDonald said it is affecting her business, as school buses may not be able to cross the bridge because of one lane being closed.
“I’ve been railroaded too many times,” McDonald said. “I cannot have one way off that bridge when I should have had both ways.
“They closed it once because the school bus couldn’t come down that bridge. I lost business because of that. I lost business because of the railroad crossing closure. Now, here I am again. School is about to start and I got it set up for after school programs. Now, people are going to have to wait until that bus comes across there. They’re in a hurry and they got to get to work, and now they have to stop for one-way traffic on that bridge. It’s not right.”
