The Brown County Commission has received the county’s latest bridge inspection report.
Engineer Tom Bennett with B-G Consultants of Manhattan presented the report to commissioners today ( Monday ). His firm inspected 218 bridges in the county.
Besides five fracture-critical bridges previously recommended for closure in the county, Bennett is also recommending that another such bridge in the city of Robinson be closed.
Bennett said the bridge is in very poor condition.  He said the bridge had previously been closed, but the city of Robinson made some repairs to the structure.  He said there is a good detour within a block of the bridge.
The county plans to visit with the mayor of Robinson about the recommendation.
A federal requirement, being enforced by the Kansas Department of Transportation, requires that fracture-critical bridges be inspected at a distance of no more than 18 inches from structural members, which raises the estimated cost for each fracture-critical inspection from about $150 to 25-hundred dollars.  The county currently has twenty-four fracture-critical bridges.
One of the fracture-critical bridges recommended for closure is located in the Fairview area on Bobcat Road, between 210th and 220th Roads.
Two county residents, Glenn Hennigan and Richard Rooney, appeared before commissioners armed with a petition in support of  keeping the bridge open.  
Commissioner Warren Ploeger, whose district the bridge is located in, says he plans to keep the bridge open until he’s forced to close it...( play audio )
Bennett said contrary to what the county was first told, not all fracture-critical bridges have to be inspected annually...( continue audio )
Currently, most bridges in the county are inspected every two years.  KDOT plans to inspect all fracture-critical bridges in the state by the end of 2013, after that it will be the county’s responsibility.