Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Whitman County bridge crew uses a tracked excavator with a pile driver June 24 to set iron H-beam pylons for a new bridge on White Road.
Work is underway on the Seltice-Warner bridge replacement project seven miles east of Oakesdale.
The county Public Works bridge crew of Bob Sevedge, Dawson Messersmith, Lorn Steen and Robby Johnson began June 29, first taking apart an old timber bridge – infested by carpenter ants – and assembling to one side the county's temporary bridge, which the crew hauled to the site on a low-boy trailer in two parts.
The workers marked the detour to the temporary bridge and began to prepare ground to drive pylons –12-inch iron H-beams – for a new manufactured steel bridge.
The project will run for an estimated four weeks.
The new 35-foot bridge will be on White Road, between Oakesdale, Tekoa and Farmington.
Once the pylons are secure, the new bridge will be bolted into place, byway of caps on the pylons. This allows the for the bridge to expand and shift under heavy loads and seasonal weather.
The new bridge will be 28-feet wide, replacing the wooden span's 20-foot width.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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