Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, March 20, 2018
(BEDFORD) - Bridge 172 on Cement Plant Road or formerly known as Slaughter House Road will be closed for at least a year because the bridge has been deemed unsafe and will have to be replaced.
Lawrence County Highway Superintendent David Holmes says the bridge was closed after a large hole developed in the middle of the bridge.
The bridge, built in 1909, was scheduled to be replaced in 2021.
"Two firms have determined the bridge is unsafe," says Holmes. "It will remain closed until it can be replaced, but that won't be until sometime next year because of budget restraints."
The now 9-foot one-lane bridge will be replaced and re-aligned with a two-lane bridge once funding becomes available.
"I hate this for the residents, but we have no choice," Holmes added.
In other business:
The beams for Bridge 67 on Lawrenceport Road will be delivered on Monday. The 96 foot bridge over Sugar Creek is being replaced with a 110 foot bridge at an estimated cost of half a million dollars.
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Work continues on Bridge 78 on Pumphouse Road. Crews are working on bridge abutments on the Mitchell side.
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Highway crews continue to prepare county roads for spring paving and are cutting brush, doing culvert replacements and road edging and patching potholes with hot mix. The asphalt plants opened Monday.
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Four bids for the spring paving were opened this morning and were taken under advisement. Those approved will be awarded at the next commissioners meeting.
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The commissioners signed the INDOT bridge inspection contract and the landfill contract for well monitoring.
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Sheriff Mike Branham told the commissioners the county is still facing overcrowding issues at the jail.
As of Tuesday morning, Sheriff Branham reported that there were 187 inmates housed at the jail, of those 38 were females, 15 Level 6 felons.
"Knox County can no longer hold any of our Level 6 offenders because they are also in the same position as we are facing overcrowding," Sheriff Branham added. "So we had to go and get our inmates and bring them back. We are looking at other options. We can tolerate these numbers for a little while. If we take them to another county they will charge us more than what DOC pays us to house the inmates."
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Sheriff Branham will hold a courthouse security drills on May 11 at Courthouse Plaza and May 30th at the Courthouse.
The drills will be conducted at 8:30 a.m. each day.
"The drill will take around 30 minutes," he added. "It will not interrupt any court proceedings."
In April, Sheriff Branham will hold multiple training sessions on courthouse security for employees at the Sheriff's Department.
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The Sheriff's Department is offering Church Safety Training for area churches.
The training will be held on April 14th at 8 a.m. at the First Assembly of God Church at 2601 27th Street.
"We are asking churches send no more than 3 church leaders to the training," Sheriff Branham added. "This training will give them ideas and tools to do a safety assessment."
To sign up for the course contact Sheriff Branham or Major Gregg Taylor at the Sheriff's Department.
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The commissioners voted to deny the request of Attorney Byron Steele to vacate a portion of a street in Terry Park Addition. Two other landowners, John Cummings and Ray Robinson, who also own property in the addition asked the commissioners not to vacate the street.
"I hope the property owners can come up with a solution that would not deteriorate the property value of any landowner," says Commissioner Dustin Gabhart.
Commissioner President Rodney Fish says the commissioners will work with the property owners with what ever they can come up with.
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Pamela DeRue, of Bedford, praised Veterans Office Brad Bough for his help with her VA widow benefits.
"I have been battling this for more than 40 years and with Brad's help was able to get it settled." She added, "He is passionate about what he does."
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