Floodwaters destroyed a Jasper County bridge located southwest of Newton, and the image of its destruction has garnered hundreds of interactions online.
The mangled approaches, caved in deck and twisted rails are a reminder of just how dangerous flash floods can be. But considering the amount of damage the county sustained from severe storms last week, it is unlikely that residents needed any further reminders of just how cruel Mother Nature can be.
Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch said the bridge going over Cherry Creek along South 24th Avenue West – classified as Bridge M03 – is completely gone. Totally gone, in fact. And it is by all means impassable. It was a timber pile bridge with wood back walls, which were tied back to piles further down the road.
“It was basically a tether-type back wall situation, and then there was steel beams placed over it and then a concrete and wood plank deck,” Frietsch said. “So what happened was that water rushed in and created a negative pressure, pulled the walls and then the water went up and over and around.”
Which weakened the road behind the back walls, causing the bridge to collapse into itself. When the abutments broke down on the west side, the structure caved in. Although there are barriers blocking drivers from passing, the county did not have to post any detours. But the county did close it at the nearest cross street.
“There are alternative ways to get around it,” Frietsch said in an interview with Newton News. “It’s not a huge impact and I don’t really think there are any homes living around that corner to the west there. So we’re really not impacting residents all that much there. It was kind of a cut-through route is what it was.”
Bridge M03 was not scheduled on the engineer’s five-year plan, but Frietsch said it was certainly on its way to be included in the coming years. From what he can recollect, Frietsch estimates the bridge was over 50 years old. Secondary roads crews are looking over other bridges in the county for damages.
“We do have a bridge (I20) over the North Skunk River, southwest of Kellogg, that we’re watching right now,” he said. “I believe it’s on (North) 19th Avenue (East). I think that road is closed, and that bridge we’ll see. I don’t know if it can be repaired. But we’re looking at that one as well.”
There is also another bridge on the county line abutting Marshall County on the northeast corner. But Frietsch said the jurisdiction on that bridge belongs to Marshall County. With I20 going over the North Skunk River, Frietsch is doubtful it can be replaced quickly since it is in a floodplain.
Specifications from the Iowa Department of Transportation would greatly extend the size of I20 and cost millions of dollars to replace to the state’s standards.
Meanwhile, M03 will also have to meet certain specifications. Frietsch estimated it will have to be almost triple in size. The current structure is only about 47 feet long, but the replacement may have to be 120 feet. In order to ensure damage like this doesn’t happen again, the deck may need to be raised 4 feet higher.
“Then we’ll probably have to redo the roads on both sides of the bridge in order to make sure that if water does go up ever in the future it doesn’t impact the bridge like it did this time,” Frietsch said. “It will need to drain around and away from the bridge.”
The bridge will take more than a year to replace, and the road will most likely remained closed until then.