7th Street bridge reconstruction planned
The City of Cassville is moving forward with plans to reconstruct the 7th Street bridge by the park and Greenway trail. Massive flooding in the area made the bridge inoperable since 2017.
January 30, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
Since the Spring of 2017, 7th Street in Cassville has been incomplete. Before 2017, Seventh Street had a bridge that ran over Flat Creek and connected downtown Cassville directly to the park. Years of flood damage led the city to demolish the bridge after years of service.
Now, plans to reconstruct the bridge have been put in motion at City Hall. The city already has an open claim with FEMA and SEMA that began in 2015 when the structure was damaged and nearly impassable due to flooding. Now, after it was demolished nearly two years ago, the city has begun the process of using that open claim to rebuild the bridge.
David Brock, Public Works Director for the City of Cassville stated that the bridge is a crucial bit of roadway and being without it has made navigating difficult for some.
“The Seventh Street bridge links the square with the downtown park, is a favored route for funeral processions to reach Oakhill Cemetery and is used by school buses,” said Brock. “The crossing is also an important link for three residences located east of the creek on 7th and Mineral Spring Road. It sees peak usage during baseball season when families come and go from the ball fields.”
City Hall already has a timeline in place for the construction of the bridge. Construction of a new bridge isn’t a certainty yet, however. To begin the project, the city will have to work with FEMA and SEMA to expand the scope of the city’s claim in order to receive the bulk of the funding needed for the project.
“We are expecting to call for bids in February or early March with construction completed by late summer,” said Brock.
Brock continued, “The bid letting is contingent on receiving approval from FEMA/SEMA to increase the amount of the claim. The amount of the existing claim is based on building an exact replacement for the damaged structure. However, we are being advised that a direct replacement does not meet Army Corps of Engineers requirements. To meet these specifications, the new structure needs to pass much more water beneath the driving surface.”
In order to accomplish this, city engineers have drafted significant changes to the original design of the bridge.
“The new design will pass significantly more water under the driving surface, with almost four times the open area as the old one,” said Brock. “We expect it to remain in service during the smaller rain events that would inundate the old crossing.”
Brock explained that this new design would function much like the old one but would be built to better accommodate flooding. Other design options were considered but, ultimately scrapped due to their high cost.
“The new bridge will still be designed to be overtopped during larger rain events; a higher bridge deck would have a negative impact on flood levels upstream,” stated Brock. “An alternative would be a very large structure like the Thirteenth Street bridge but, we do not believe FEMA/SEMA would sign off on that scale of bridge since we can meet regulatory requirements with a smaller structure.”
The biggest change to the bridge would not be in the way that it moves water around and under it but, in the makeup of the bridge itself.
“The biggest difference in flood damage protection is having an all concrete structure that is designed to withstand strong overtopping currents and to deflect debris,” said Brock
Brock explained that the project is contingent on that change in scope, otherwise the bridge would be susceptible to the same kind of flooding damage that destroyed it previously.
City engineers have already mapped out and designed the changes needed to make the structure more solid. With the FEMA/SEMA funding, the projected cost for the city is relatively low.
“Our engineers provided a preliminary construction cost estimate of $245,000,” said Brock. “They will update the estimate prior to bid advertisement. There will be additional engineering, inspection and testing expenses during construction. Including the engineering design costs, the total project budget is $342.761.”
The project would not require any further funding from the people of Cassville, as the City’s expected portion of the cost has already been made a part of the yearly budget.
“If our change in scope is approved by FEMA/SEMA, 75% of the cost will be funded by State and Federal Funds,” said Brock. “The remaining 15% will come from local Transportation and Stormwater budgets. Our expected portion of the project, 15%, is included in the approved 2019 budget.”
The city expects there to be some temporary inconveniences brought on by the project, but nothing that would impact citizen’s ability to enjoy the public park during construction.
“Citizens will not experience much interruption, since the crossing has been out of service for two summers,” stated Brock. “A portion of the downtown park will be used for storage and staging during construction but we don’t expect any impact on the existing ballfields or available parking. We do expect to temporarily reroute the trail during construction.”
Should the FEMA funding for the project not come through, the City is ready with a back up plan that will still see improvements made to the park.
“If the change in scope is not approved by FEMA/SEMA, the claim monies could be used to improve the entrance to the downtown park off of Highway 248,” said Brock.
Vinnie Roberts
Since the Spring of 2017, 7th Street in Cassville has been incomplete. Before 2017, Seventh Street had a bridge that ran over Flat Creek and connected downtown Cassville directly to the park. Years of flood damage led the city to demolish the bridge after years of service.
Now, plans to reconstruct the bridge have been put in motion at City Hall. The city already has an open claim with FEMA and SEMA that began in 2015 when the structure was damaged and nearly impassable due to flooding. Now, after it was demolished nearly two years ago, the city has begun the process of using that open claim to rebuild the bridge.
David Brock, Public Works Director for the City of Cassville stated that the bridge is a crucial bit of roadway and being without it has made navigating difficult for some.
“The Seventh Street bridge links the square with the downtown park, is a favored route for funeral processions to reach Oakhill Cemetery and is used by school buses,” said Brock. “The crossing is also an important link for three residences located east of the creek on 7th and Mineral Spring Road. It sees peak usage during baseball season when families come and go from the ball fields.”
City Hall already has a timeline in place for the construction of the bridge. Construction of a new bridge isn’t a certainty yet, however. To begin the project, the city will have to work with FEMA and SEMA to expand the scope of the city’s claim in order to receive the bulk of the funding needed for the project.
“We are expecting to call for bids in February or early March with construction completed by late summer,” said Brock.
Brock continued, “The bid letting is contingent on receiving approval from FEMA/SEMA to increase the amount of the claim. The amount of the existing claim is based on building an exact replacement for the damaged structure. However, we are being advised that a direct replacement does not meet Army Corps of Engineers requirements. To meet these specifications, the new structure needs to pass much more water beneath the driving surface.”
In order to accomplish this, city engineers have drafted significant changes to the original design of the bridge.
“The new design will pass significantly more water under the driving surface, with almost four times the open area as the old one,” said Brock. “We expect it to remain in service during the smaller rain events that would inundate the old crossing.”
Brock explained that this new design would function much like the old one but would be built to better accommodate flooding. Other design options were considered but, ultimately scrapped due to their high cost.
“The new bridge will still be designed to be overtopped during larger rain events; a higher bridge deck would have a negative impact on flood levels upstream,” stated Brock. “An alternative would be a very large structure like the Thirteenth Street bridge but, we do not believe FEMA/SEMA would sign off on that scale of bridge since we can meet regulatory requirements with a smaller structure.”
The biggest change to the bridge would not be in the way that it moves water around and under it but, in the makeup of the bridge itself.
“The biggest difference in flood damage protection is having an all concrete structure that is designed to withstand strong overtopping currents and to deflect debris,” said Brock
Brock explained that the project is contingent on that change in scope, otherwise the bridge would be susceptible to the same kind of flooding damage that destroyed it previously.
City engineers have already mapped out and designed the changes needed to make the structure more solid. With the FEMA/SEMA funding, the projected cost for the city is relatively low.
“Our engineers provided a preliminary construction cost estimate of $245,000,” said Brock. “They will update the estimate prior to bid advertisement. There will be additional engineering, inspection and testing expenses during construction. Including the engineering design costs, the total project budget is $342.761.”
The project would not require any further funding from the people of Cassville, as the City’s expected portion of the cost has already been made a part of the yearly budget.
“If our change in scope is approved by FEMA/SEMA, 75% of the cost will be funded by State and Federal Funds,” said Brock. “The remaining 15% will come from local Transportation and Stormwater budgets. Our expected portion of the project, 15%, is included in the approved 2019 budget.”
The city expects there to be some temporary inconveniences brought on by the project, but nothing that would impact citizen’s ability to enjoy the public park during construction.
“Citizens will not experience much interruption, since the crossing has been out of service for two summers,” stated Brock. “A portion of the downtown park will be used for storage and staging during construction but we don’t expect any impact on the existing ballfields or available parking. We do expect to temporarily reroute the trail during construction.”
Should the FEMA funding for the project not come through, the City is ready with a back up plan that will still see improvements made to the park.
“If the change in scope is not approved by FEMA/SEMA, the claim monies could be used to improve the entrance to the downtown park off of Highway 248,” said Brock.