2/27/2009
Traffic delays while girders set on Watts Bridge north of Challis
RIGBY - Construction on the new Watts Bridge on U.S. 93 north of Challis will cause traffic delays starting Monday (March 2), the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) announced.
Crews will set girders for the new bridge Monday through Friday. Motorists can expect intermittent 15-minute delays as cranes hoist the beams into place.
Travel will be reduced to one lane, with flaggers directing northbound and southbound traffic through the half-mile work zone. Commercial vehicles will be restricted to 10 feet in width and to legal weights.
Work on the bridge will take place between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Motorists should be prepared to stop and should watch for construction workers and equipment.
Once girders are installed, crews will prepare to pour the deck in April.
Construction of the bridge resumed on Feb. 16, and will be completed in late summer. Crews completed foundations, piers and abutments for the bridge last year. They also constructed mechanically stabilized earthen walls for approaches to the bridge, which will be 360 feet long.
Located on U.S. 93 about 10 miles north of Challis at milepost 257, the bridge is being constructed next to the existing Watts Bridge, which was built in 1938.
The new bridge will be almost twice as wide as the old one, with one 12-foot wide lane and a 10-foot wide shoulder in each direction that will allow vehicles more room to safely cross the structure. The old bridge had no shoulders.
The new bridge design of one pier in the water instead of four also will improve river flow and reduce the potential for ice jamming in the winter. In addition, the new design includes abutments pulled well back from the river's edge, further opening the river for free flow.
After the new bridge is finished and placed into service, crews will remove the old bridge. The bridge-replacement project over the Salmon River also includes realigning U.S. 93 to match the new bridge.
ITD awarded Idaho Construction Co. Inc. of Kimberly the $5.46 million contract for the bridge-replacement project.