Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Work started on the once-delayed Edmondson Bridge replacement project last week with a detour set and a temporary bridge installed June 9.
After some final permitting matters early this week, the old bridge on Sand Road near Pullman will be demolished.
The Edmundson Bridge is located at a spot where an increase in traffic led to the need to widen the 19-foot-wide bridge on the 25-foot-wide road. The roadway serves as an alternate route between Pullman and Moscow.
Once the demolition is complete, engineers will get to work on the new tri-deck pre-cast concrete bridge, estimated to cost $250,000–$300,000.
A pile driver will drive piles 30 to 40 feet into the ground until they hit bedrock or reach a certain friction capacity that engineers deem sufficient.
Once the piles are set, crews will build abutments.
The delay in the project came late last summer when the Historic Bridge Foundation, based in Austin, Texas, questioned whether the 1916 bridge should be saved.
After a historical review process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the Seattle District, the Historic Bridge Preservation Office and the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation signed an approval to take out the bridge.
The county estimates six weeks to build the new bridge.
Beginning last fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, investigated the original Luten-arch concrete bridge, according to the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), which calls for federal agencies to take into account the effects of their work on historic properties.
The style of the original bridge is named after Daniel Luten, one of the nation's leading bridge engineers of the early 1900s. Luten and his affiliated contracting companies built thousands of his patented designs across the country.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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