Published: July 24, 2008 10:00 am      

Bluford railroad bridge set to oepn

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — After years of waiting for repairs, Short Street Bridge in Bluford is finally set to open Friday night.

Stan Drennan reported to the Jefferson County Highway Committee Wednesday evening the 150-foot pre-cast pre-stressed concrete deck beam railroad bridge will be completed Friday.

Short Street has been closed since October 2007 to allow crews to remove the bridge and construct a new one.

Earlier this year Jefferson County Board Chairman Ted Buck reported receiving complaints from Bluford residents and the owners of the Bluford Grocery wanting to know when the bridge replacement project would be completed and the road opened again.

Spring rains halted construction, saturating the ground so much that crews could not get into the area to complete dirt work.

According to previous reports, the 75-year-old timber bridge had been deteriorating for years, and in 2006, the Illinois Department of Transportation downgraded the bridge, which spans the Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad, to a weight limit of 3 tons. The weight limitation immediately affected Webber Township Fire Protection District, as Short Street is the main thoroughfare to the east side of the village, and trucks weigh about 12 tons when fully loaded.

Drennan also updated the committee on other highway projects, with the Bonnie Road guardrail, located one mile west of Bonnie, tentatively scheduled to be completed in two weeks. Construction on the proposed bridge at Drum Road, one mile south of Boyd, has also began, though the project is waiting on cranes and beams.

In other business, the highway committee:

Approved a monthly fuel quote from Davis & Sons, Fairfield, for gas and bio-diesel at 7.1003.

Approved monthly bills.

Approved to budget $900,000 for County Motor Fuel Tax Funds, effective Jan. 1, 2009.

Approved to budget County Highway Funds at $281,000, effective Nov. 12, 2008 through Nov. 20, 2009.

Approved to budget County Bridge Funds at $127,000, effective Dec. 1, 2008, through Nov. 20, 2009.

Approved 2007 Road District Motor Fuel Tax, County Motor Fuel Tax and Township Bridge Program audit reports and,

Approved a lease agreement for a new John Deere mowing tractor from McLean Implement of Benton.