The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

August 9 , 2007

Wahkiakum County residents shouldn’t see a collapse of a bridge such as that which claimed five lives in Minneapolis last week, Public Works Director Pete Ringen said Tuesday.

County bridges are inspected every two years by engineers from the state Department of Transportation, Ringen said, and those that need repair are getting the attention they need, he said.

Of the 19 bridges in the county road system, 70 percent are in good shape, receiving scores of 90 percent or better in the inspections, Ringen said.

Those with the lowest scores were the Puget Island ferry ramp and the Grays River Covered Bridge.

Ringen has planned replacement of the ferry ramp for late this year.

As for the Covered Bridge, the wooden super structure will always score low, Ringen said.

The bridge was updated in the 1980s to meet contemporary bridge standards; the wooden bridge rests on top of a concrete structure.

“There are no other bridges in the Wahkiakum County road system that are structurally deficient,” he wrote in a report to the board.

The county also has contractors working to replace the washed out culvert bridges over Duck Creek with concrete structures. Ringen is also preparing a project to repair the August Hansen Bridge over the Elochoman River at Beaver Creek Road. The bridge sustained structural damage in last

winter’s flooding.

The board of commissioners on Tuesday authorized Ringen to sign an agreement with the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program for a $112,000 grant to repair the roof of the Grays River Covered Bridge, which also sustained damage in last winter’s storms.