One more county road will be among those closed for most of the summer while the county completes repairs.
Sargent Road, which crosses over Interstate 5 near Winlock, was approved for closure to through traffic from July 1 to Oct. 30 by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners at its weekly business meeting on Tuesday, June 3.
The closure will allow Lewis County Public Works to move forward with a bridge scour project that will shore up supports for a small bridge on the road that crosses Olequa Creek, just before the intersection with Minkler Road, and another with Fisher Road.
Sargent Road will be closed between Fisher Road and Military Road, but local access will be available up to the project site. Fisher and Military as well as Antrim Road, which connects the two, will be used for the detour route.
Bridge scour refers to the natural erosion of soil and material away from the base of bridge piers and supports.
The project will take steps to prevent scour from compromising the integrity of the small bridge.
While the county approved the four-month window for closure of the road, the head of Lewis County Public Works, Geoff Soderquist, said the actual closure will likely be shorter as the exact dates of the closure depend on the schedule of the contractor hired for the project.
More details for the project are not yet available as the county is still in the design process, which will wrap up soon. According to Wesley Anderson, assistant county engineer, the county plans to start the bidding process this month to find a contractor and keep the project on track for completion by the end of the summer.
Funding for the project comes from the Local Bridge Program, which provides money for preserving, repairing or replacing failing local bridges. Money comes from both the state and the federal government, depending on the jurisdiction.
