Aging Cherrylane Bridge slated for replacement—Federal grant would fund much of long sought-after project

By JOEL MILLS of the Lewiston Tribune

After years of unsuccessful applications, Nez Perce County has been awarded the federal grant it needs to replace Cherrylane Bridge.

County Road and Bridge Department Director Mark Ridinger confirmed the $15.75 million federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or B.U.I.L.D., grant Monday, the full amount requested. That grant program recently replaced the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or T.I.G.E.R., grant program.

The grant would have covered the entire estimated cost of construction if it had been awarded in 2013, the first year the county applied for T.I.G.E.R. funding. But that cost has inflated in recent years, with a total projected budget of $20.8 million.

Ridinger said the county should be able to add its own funding sources to bridge funding from the state’s Local Highway Technical Assistance Council and contributions from the Nez Perce Tribe to make up the difference.

“Between all the parties involved, we’ll make it happen,” he said. “That’s quite a bit of money to come up with, but we’ll figure it out.” The county’s required match for this type of grant is 7.34 percent, or $1,156,050.

The groups involved in the project have been working since 2002 on a replacement for the bridge, which crosses the Clearwater River near Myrtle. Construction on the single-lane span began in 1919, and it is now rated as structurally deficient with a rating of 30 out of 100, Ridinger said.

It is also under severe weight restrictions, with only 4.7 tons allowed per axle. Ridinger said that keeps vehicles like loaded dump trucks and cement trucks from accessing the area for frequent residential building projects. It also hampers agriculture since loaded grain trucks can’t cross. And the Nez Perce Tribe’s fish hatchery across the river from U.S. Highway 95 can’t use it for its loaded tankers.

“They have to go around,” Ridinger said. “(The county) can’t even take gravel trucks across there, so everybody has to do a long detour. This is going to be huge, in terms of getting loads across the river.”

The new bridge will be approximately 800 feet long and be constructed of concrete, with several piers across the river for support. It will also have two lanes and be built about 70 feet upstream from the existing bridge. Ridinger said all the right-of-way needed for construction has been acquired, and environmental work has been approved. It should take one to two years to complete, with construction possibly beginning in 2020.