It will be several weeks before Logan County Highway Department bridge crews can repair damage to overhead beams on Bickham Covered Bridge.
Bickham Bridge on County Road 38 is closed for several weeks as the Logan County Engineer’s Office make plans to repair recent damage to overhead beams. MORE PHOTOS OF DAMAGE IN MONDAY’S EXMINER.(EXAMINER PHOTOS | JOEL E. MAST)
Assistant County Engineer Cale Jacobs and Bridge Superintendent Dan McMillen said it will cost around $4,000 in labor and materials to reset eight beams dislodged from steel box mounts and replace a cracked 5-by-5 inch beam which was part of the original 1877 build.
All eight X-beam structures show scrapes from either box trucks or tractor-trailers using the bridge on County Road 38 just north of State Route 366.
The clearance for the bridge is 12 feet, two inches, Jacobs said, not high enough for box trucks and semis.
“Too often, GPS (global positioning satellite systems) take drivers onto roads they don’t fit,” he said.
McMillen said it can be part of normal route for a tree service company or delivery service or it can be a semi driver looking for an alternative route around a crash scene.
He suspects the latter occurred after a recent crash on State Route 117. Witness report a flatbed semi approached the bridge from the north and hit the bridge with its top cab cowling.
Read complete story in Monday’s Examiner.
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