Stone City Road Bridge closed until at least 2028

     The Jones County Board of Supervisors met in a special meeting on April 11 to formally close a bridge on Stone City Road over Crow Creek. The bridge is closed to all traffic until at least March 31, 2028.

   The bridge was physically closed by Jones County Secondary Roads on April 9.

   "We had a catastrophic failure," relayed Assistant Engineer Todd Postel during the April 11 board meeting.

   During a routine bridge inspection, it was discovered that the abutment piling had deteriorated and was crushed when a heavy load drove over the bridge. This led to a slight rotation in the pile caps which severely reduces the bridge's capacity and ability to safely carry any traffic.

   Stone City Road Bridge was constructed in 1976. Postel described it as a hybrid-type bridge with a pre-stressed concrete deck. There are a lot of these types of bridges in Jones County, according to Postel.

   The failure occurred on the east end of the bridge.

   "What's happening is that the pier cap is starting to deflect or roll," explained Postel. "That's what scares us. The straps that hold everything, they all popped off.
   "Nobody feels comfortable with any traffic going over it."

   The heavy load happened to travel across the bridge while the county bridge inspector was inspecting the bridge from underneath the structure.

   "It made him nervous," Postel said. "I've been around when that happens; I was at Eby's Mill when that collapsed. It's an eerie feeling when you start to hear that wood pop. That's not good."

   Postel immediately started working on project development to replace the bridge following the failure. However, a project like this cannot be accomplished overnight.

   "We can't just turn it around that quick," he said. "We have to go through Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS). It's next to the Wapsi (Wapsipinicon River). We have to go through the Corps of Engineers; all of the permitting."

   A very rough estimate on a project like this is $750,000. Secondary Roads will use federal bridge funds for the project, BROS (Bridge Replacement Off System) funds.

   Postel felt a large, three-cell box culvert would work in this case.

   "We have to run all of the calculations yet to see what's going to fit in there," he said.

   A concept statement has to be turned into the Iowa DOT by April 15. Postel planned to submit on Monday, April 14.

   "That will light the fuse," he said of kick-starting the project.

   He anticipates an April 21, 2026 letting. He said when Eby's Mill collapsed, it took a year to replace it.

   "It's going to take that long," warned Postel, "any kind of the bridge when you're dealing with Waters of the U.S. It's painfully slow sometimes.

   "Even if we didn't use federal aid, there's no way I could get it started this summer with just the water permits that I need and being that close to the river and water rolling through it."

   While the bridge is closed, there will not be an official detour in place. Residents in the Stone City area have some options to use either County Road E-34 or County Road E-28.

   "Those are all good, hard-surface roads," commented Supervisor Darrick Hall.

   Postel said Linn County is aware of the situation due to the proximity, as are county emergency services.

   Stone City Road Bridge was not posted for a weight limit when it failed; however, Postel said it was on their radar for some attention.

   "We've had a few issues with it," he said. "We were waiting for the inspection."

   Bridges are inspected every two years. It was last inspected in late 2022/early 2023.

   Supervisor John Schlarmann asked Postel if there was any way to expedite the process concerning a replacement. Postel said it would only be a matter of six months' time if they did anything now or not. He offered they could spend $150,000 to $250,000 now on a quick fix, but that would only be a temporary repair job. It would then become a posted bridge.

   "You can post it, but you're still going to have people drive over it," said Supervisor Joe Oswald.

   "I don't think it's worth it," Postel said. It's not a little, unnamed creek. It's a tributary to something. We have to dot all of our "I's" and cross all of our "T's." That's the name of the game."