By: Sara Wyant
Ag Week
From a distance, the steel frame bridge with large wooden planks spanning the middle looks to be in decent shape. It’s been providing a reliable path across the Heart River in western North Dakota since the early 1920s, enabling tractors to move from our fields that border both sides of the river and numerous hunters, hoping to shoot their next big trophy.
But state inspectors beg to differ. They found a hairline crack in one of the beams and have suggested lowering the weight limit and potentially, removing the decades-old bridge altogether. Removal would not be cheap, but replacement could cost almost $2 million — a huge investment for Grant County officials to consider. Making matters worse, it’s not the only bridge that needs to be fixed or upgraded. Several major farm to market bridges are in similar shape in the cash-strapped county and the list of needed investments in rural infrastructure keeps growing.