Conservation accepts bridge bid

The Jones County Conservation Board agreed to pay Ground Line Company, LLC., of Onslow, to update the abutments holding up Fremont Mill Bridge, a historic structure at Central Park. 

The total cost will be less than half of the $110,000 that was originally estimated.

The board opened bids at its November meeting and Ground Line Co.’s bid of $49,049 was the lowest of the nine received. The second-place bid was $79,494, and they ranged all the way up to $230,332. 

The work will add reinforcing concrete to the wooden abutments currently in place. The bow-string-style bridge dates back to 1873 and crossed the Wapsipinicon River at Monticello that was part of the original Military Road. It was placed in Central Park in 1994 and serves as a footbridge spanning a portion of Central Park Lake’s southern banks.