The Washington County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to postpone the addition of a Leland bridge to the county engineers’ list of bridges to be repaired using county funds.
IMS Engineers project manager Tommy Avant made the request as a report showed the county does not have Local System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (LSBP) funds to be utilized for the bridge located on Breisch Street.
According to Avant, the estimated cost of repairs for the bridge is $729,000.
“We’re going to make sure we reduce these costs,” Avant said.
However, the BOS’ general consensus was the requested addition does not meet the criteria in terms of priority given that the bridge is located within the corporate limits of Leland and county residents are dependent upon the repair of other bridges for access and safety concerns.
Both BOS president Carl McGee and vice president Lee Gordon highlighted the Broadway Extended repaving as high on the list of projects that need to be underway.
“I don’t see where we approve this, but we also had Broadway Extended,” Gordon said.
McGee added, “My concern is that we make these commitments inside corporate limits, and we don’t fulfill the ones we have in the county like Broadway Extended…this is a road we’ve been talking about for the last couple of years now.”
District 5 Supervisor Jerry Redmond also pointed out there were bridges in his district facing circumstances of inaccessibility and safety if they aren’t repaired.
Gordon reiterated his discomfort with approving the addition of a local city bridge at that moment and suggested more research be done pertaining to funding sources for the bridge as it relates to municipalities.
He added, “The only thing that concerns me is if we’ve got other bridges where people can’t get in and out, where, as far as priority, we’re going in getting bridges done.”
Gordon made a motion to postpone the addition of the Leland bridge and District 2 Supervisor Tommy Benson gave the second.
The motion carried unanimously.
