Emergency replacement of damaged sign bridge in Bonners Ferry performed June 28

Several employees in North Idaho put in extra hours last Thursday (June 28) after a wide load traveling on US-95 struck one leg of an overhead sign bridge, shearing the bolts that secured the 13,000-pound structure to the Kootenai River Bridge.

Although the steel structure remained upright after the collision, only one leg of the sign was still attached to the bridge.
 
Recognizing the threat to the safety of the public traveling underneath it, a district team—including members from the sign, bridge and Bonners Ferry crews as well as the shop—led by foreman George Shutes acted quickly to stabilize the sign while coordinating with a private contractor to move in a crane big enough to remove the damaged structure.

The 63,000-pound crane, which was transported from the Hauser area nearly 80 miles away, arrived around 6 p.m. Within 1.5 hours, the damaged sign bridge was gone, and US-95 over the Kootenai River Bridge reopened to traffic.

“The team was able to organize and safely remove this huge sign bridge in less than a day with minimal impact to the US-95 traffic,” said operations engineer Jerry Wilson. “This is another great example of the skill and dedication of our operations staff!”

Published 07-06-18