Indiana Department of Transportation recently awarded Kosciusko County $591,000 in Local Public Agency bridge funding.
The funds will be used to repair an 88-year-old bridge at Country Club Road over Peterson Ditch.
Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent Dennis Pletcher said the bridge's spread footing that it sits on has been washed out because of moving water in the creek beneath the bridge.He said there is cracking in the bridge's abutment walls, the vertical walls that hold the bridge up, and they need replaced.
The bridge was built in 1920 and has not been replaced before, but has received routine maintenance, according to Pletcher.
County officials requested the federal matching funds before an award panel at the INDOT Fort Wayne district offices April 16. The panel's decision to choose Kosciusko County's project was confirmed April 29 by a selection committee in Indianapolis.
Kosciusko County was one of six municipalities competing for approximately $30 million in LPA bridge funding.
Kosciusko County will pay 20 percent of the total cost of the project.
Pletcher said he will meet with INDOT to sign a contract, discuss when the project will begin and select a project engineer.
The county is waiting to know how much money it will receive for its cumulative bridge funds. It is funded by a fuel tax.
"Cumulative bridge funding for the county has been down for a few year, and with the property tax issue we do not know how much funding we will receive to repair bridges in the county," Pletcher said.
