Bridge crew tackles extensive repairs
in North Idaho

Bridge crews in the districts typically take on the maintenance needs of bridges, like brooming the decks and flushing the joints, but in the last few months, the three-man crew in North Idaho tackled extensive repairs on a tight timeline.

One particular bridge near Clarkia showed too many issues that couldn’t wait until its replacement in two years, so the D1 team of Timothy Moon, T.J. Gibson and Heath Hand worked with HQ Bridge to conceptualize and design temporary repairs.

The 1930s structure had only received improvements to its deck in the 1950s, and the last inspection showed that some of the wooden beams were rotten.

Over two weeks, Moon and his co-workers reinforced the beams and further protected them with steel culverts that they cut in half and resealed around the supports.

“We had very heavy iron to carry through the water and then stand upright and hold in place while we aligned and attached them with temporary screws,” Moon said.

While figuring out how to piece the culverts back together challenged the team, they also had to brave the St. Maries River in 42-degree weather to get the job done.

“The bottom bolts were fun,” Moon said. “Someone had to go diving.”

The team also came through for the traveling public with last-minute repairs to the bridge on Interstate 90 where it passes over Idaho Street in Post Falls. The joint had become so packed full of debris that it caused a crack in the bridge to form when it expanded with the warm weather.

“The crack was 20 feet long,” Moon said.

Chipping out the bad concrete, straightening the rebar, reforming the wall, fixing the abutment and cleaning out the joint took the team one month to complete.

Critical maintenance items aren’t just addressed through construction contracts, as shown by the work of this district’s bridge team.

Published 10-02-20