No Christmas Miracle For Jasper County Route D Drivers
Bridge Completion Delayed Again
No Christmas miracles will be in store for Oronogo drivers this year. It turns out the opening of the Route D bridge over Center Creek will not be happening before the holidays, after all. Continued weather and construction issues have delayed the completion of the project which should have been done by September 1st. The completion date has been pushed back numerous times now, with the latest date only listed as “early 2020”.
Work was suspended earlier this year due to flooding at Center Creek and subsurface issues at the construction site that resulted in a redesign of the bridge footings.
Contractor crews are replacing the old bridge with a new structure, which will be 12 feet higher, 18 feet wider with no overhead truss at a cost of $3 million.
Weather and/or construction delays could still further alter the work schedule.
The original Center Creek bridge was built in 1935 and was experiencing severe deterioration. Nearly 6,000 vehicles a day crossed the bridge.