Moody County will have a summer of bridge repairs this year.

The Ward Road bridge and what is called the Doyle Bridge on 483th Avenue, two miles north of 230th Street are both scheduled to be done by November, said Marc Blum, county highway superintendent.

Those bridges and two others will cost the county about $1.3 million. Grant money will cover a large portion of the costs for the Ward and Doyle bridges, Blum said.

Crews also will fix the steel girders where they have rusted on the Christenson Bridge northwest of Flandreau, hoping to give it five to 10 more years of life, he said. The bridge will continue to have a weight limit.

The repairs may be made as early as next month if the weather warms up and should take a couple of weeks to fix, he said. The bridge will be closed during that time, and the project will cost the county $65,000.

The Gullickson Bridge repairs on 479th Avenue tentatively are scheduled for June, Blum said. Crews will take the deck off and put on new abutments, which will make the bridge a legal load limit bridge again.

The bridge will likely be closed about a month, and repairs will cost $180,000, he said.

In other business at the March 6 county meeting:

• Commissioners accepted a bid of $18,980 from A&B Contracting to replace the sidewalk and north stairs on the north side of the courthouse. The only other bid on the project was for $42,067 from Big Al’s Contracting.
• Commissioners also accepted a bid of $511.55 from Kathy Baty for a property in Egan that owes back taxes. The mobile home at 201 W. First St. was seized because taxes haven’t been paid in three years and the home is abandoned.

The bid was the only one received, but Baty changed her mind about going forward with a purchase after finding out that money owed in special assessments to the town of Egan would not be waived.