When old US Highway 75 was turned over to Jackson County, along with it came the 80’ through-truss bridge over Straight Creek, built in 1925. The existing bridge was deteriorating, had a 20’ wide roadway between the trusses, and was posted for load capacity. This significantly limited its usefulness to the agriculture equipment frequenting the area, so the County came to BG Consultants to evaluate their options for replacement.

BG inspected the bridge site and found the existing abutments supporting the truss bridge were sound. Replacing these tall wall style abutments would be very expensive or the site would necessitate a much longer 3-span bridge in order to construct shorter abutments further from the channel. Therefore, BG designed a new, wider, higher capacity superstructure consisting of prestressed K3 girders utilizing the existing abutments. The bridge now provides a 24’ wide roadway with crash-rated guardrails and the ability to carry legal loads for many years into the future.

The solution provided by BG Consultants was cost effective and efficient, costing less than a full replacement, utilizing less new concrete and steel, producing less demolition debris to be disposed of and allowing construction to be completed in just 3 months, minimizing disruption to the traveling public. BG managed all aspects of the project from conception, design, permitting and utility relocations to bid letting, construction administration, final acceptance and inventory bridge inspection.