Jasper County purchases steel for destroyed bridge on S. 24th Ave. W.

Substructure materials for a bridge destroyed by the May 2024 floods were purchased last week by Jasper County.

The bridge — classified as Bridge M03 — is located on South 24th Avenue West and was one of four bridges taken out by the high-water event last year in Jasper County. Floodwaters caused the bridge to collapse and cave in on itself. Last month, the supervisors approved the final plans for the bridge replacement.

County Engineer Michael Frietsch told supervisors on Nov. 25 that the beams are already under contract, so now secondary roads is getting the steel substructure under contract now. Frietsch said Oden Enterprises, Inc. was the lone bidder on this project, submitting a bid for $74,939.76. The engineer estimated $100,000.

“They were under our estimate quite a bit,” Frietsch said. “So that’s what we got here. This will be the last piece, the last steel bid we do for bridges this fiscal year. I do not plan on doing another one until we get to (fiscal year) 2027 at this point. We’re stacked up right now with bridges to build right now.”

Frietsch confirmed the project will be commencing next construction season, saying the secondary roads department thinks it has enough steel in stockpile right now that crews can get started on the H-pile and restock with the steel acquired from the Oden Enterprises bid.

“We do think we can get started on this (project) this winter and start doing some H-pile, weather permitting,” Frietsch said of the steel beams that have an H-shaped cross-section that help serve as a foundation for the bridge. “It’s already close. We’re going to see if we can’t get a jump on it.”

By summer 2026, Frietsch said the secondary roads department will be starting two other bridge projects in the county, including a 50-foot bridge on the Marion County line and a bridge on North 35th Avenue West. Frietsch said the department will have to see if other 50-foot bridges can be fit in after August.