Major repairs to bridge planned

A bridge east of Franklin that crosses Sugar Creek will undergo major repairs.

Last month, Johnson County was awarded a $1.1 million grant which will cover 80 percent of the cost of rehabilitating the Greensburg Road bridge over Sugar Creek near County Road 700E, county highway director Luke Mastin said. The county will be responsible for the remaining cost, which will be about $275,000, he said.

Work will include replacing everything except for the base supports of the bridge, which will still undergo repairs, he said.

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The bridge currently has a weight limit of 15 tons and will no longer have any weight restrictions once it is rebuilt, Mastin said.

The county inspects and rates bridges on a scale of one to 100. The most recent rating for this bridge was 45.7, making it one of the lowest rated in the county. That doesn’t mean that the bridge is in any danger of failing, but it does mean that repairs are needed sooner rather than later, Mastin said.

The project is schedule to be done in either 2021 or 2022, which are the years the grant funds will be available, Mastin said.