(Audubon) The Audubon County Secondary Roads Department is in the process of re-routing a portion of Falcon Avenue in Sharon Township to eliminate two bridges.
County Engineer Mitch Rydl says it’s a quarter of a mile stretch that sees 25 vehicles per day. The permanent closing of the bridges would save the county approximately a half million dollars per bridge. “So you’re looking at about a million dollars for replacing both the bridges. So with the minimal traffic that we have there we were just discussing going over a quarter of a mile and making it a “Level B” road and putting in low water crossings and removing the bridges.”
Rydl says the next step is to have a public hearing to change the level of service of that portion of road from “Level A” to “Level B” before putting in the low water crossing. “Basically we would put a small tube or metal culvert to handle the day to day flow. Usually we design them for maybe a two year or five year storm. If the water level gets up two to three feet and the tubes can’t handle them then it would go over the road surface.”
Rydl admits there are a handful of landowners directly adjacent to the proposed project and several others within the area that will have an interest in what happens. He says no land will be condemned if a landowner is not willing to sell. One of the bridges in this stretch of Falcon Avenue has been closed for one year because it is structurally deficient.
