New Benton County bridge opens

Osage Creek span costs $2.33M after nearly 2-year closure

The new Osage Creek bridge — the longest bridge in unincorporated Benton County — is open to traffic, a county official said.

Melody Kwok, county communications director, said the Arkansas Department of Transportation on Wednesday informed the county the bridge is open. A ribbon cutting will be held at 11 a.m. June 20.

The bridge on Old Arkansas 68 spans 502 feet. The cost was $2.33 million. The cost sharing was 80% in federal aid, 18% in state aid and 2% county money, said Josh Beam, chief county engineer.

The bridge is just west of Logan Road, about 6 miles east of Siloam Springs. The old bridge was torn down when construction started in October 2020. The old 450-foot-long bridge was built in 1935.

The state Transportation Department handled the dayto-day work, Beam said.

“The Osage bridge being out has been an inconvenience to the residents in the area, and they are really ready for it to be done,” District 13 Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore said. The bridge is in his district.

An average of 560 vehicles per day crossed the old bridge in 2019, Beam said.

The county had 15 bridges labeled as “structurally deficient” by the Arkansas Department of Transportation when County Judge Barry Moehring took office in 2017. That number has been reduced to four, two of which will be completed in 2022 and the other two are on the county plan to be improved within the next two years, Moehring said earlier this year.

The Osage bridge is the last major bridge to be constructed in Moore’s district, he said. Moore said he was pleased and appreciative of Moehring’s decision to put bridge construction on a timetable.

The next longest county bridge at 430 feet is on Logan Road and also crosses Osage Creek. War Eagle Bridge is the third-largest county bridge at 304 feet, Beam said.

Other 2022 projects include the Wagon Wheel Road bridge. Right-of-way acquisition is nearly complete, and construction will begin soon on a new 175-foot long bridge over Spring Creek. The project is being done with the help of a Surface Transportation Block Grant with a cost share of 80% federal and 20% county money, Beam said. The cost is estimated at $2 million to $3 million.

The price is a bit in limbo because of increased construction costs, Beam said.

Also in the works is the Robinson Road bridge. Design work is complete and construction will begin this summer, Beam said.

Design for the Columbia Hollow Bridge is set to be completed this year, and design and construction of a new structure to replace a bridge on Gaiche Road also is planned, Beam said.

The county will keep another bridge closed for a few months, he said. The Gooseberry bridge, off of Price Coffee Road northeast of Bentonville, was damaged by flooding in early May.

“We do not anticipate needing to replace the bridge at this time,” Beam said. “However, it would be safe to assume that it will remain closed for a few months to plan and make the repairs necessary.”

The bridge is approximately 31 feet long and was built in 1982, he said.

The county had 82 roads closed during flooding on May 4-5. Some low-water crossings also were flooded, but with little damage, Kwok said.

Jay Frasier, county administrator of public services, said all the roads that were impacted by flooding in April and early May are open and passable, but county crews continue to work on building back up dirt roads and shoulders and resetting some culverts that washed out, he said.

“You know how flooding works,” Frasier said. “It takes 24 to 26 hours to mess up the roads and two months for us to put them back together.”