Traffic started crossing Ward Road Bridge last week
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The Ward Road bridge opened last week after indications that it wouldn’t be finished until next year.
Traffic was allowed on the bridge on Nov. 21, but finishing touches will be made next spring. Signs will remain up on Interstate 29 for the detour until after next year when the bridge is paved. It will have to be closed down for the paving at that point, said Marc Blum, Moody County highway superintendent. At that time, approach rails also will have to be taken down and reinstalled.
The surface is gravel for now.
In October, the bridge builder, Robert G. Schroeder of Goodwin, Minn., said it would not complete the project before the Nov. 1 state deadline to pour the decks.
But once the state said it would enforce fines at $1,300 for each working day throughout the winter for being late on the contract deadline, the company sent additional help and decided to finish the project this year.
The project was delayed this summer by unusually wet weather, high water levels under the bridge and equipment failures. But an engineer overseeing the project for Clark Engineering also said the company did not send enough people to adequately staff the building process.
The bridge has been closed for three harvests after it failed, and before that, had a load limit to cross it. The project is being paid for with a state Bridge Improvement Grant that has a partial match from Moody County.
In other bridge updates, work on the Doyle bridge is behind schedule. The contract says the bridge will be completed by Nov. 30, but it appears it will take longer, and concrete hadn’t been poured as of the Nov. 20 commission meeting, Blum said.