First of its kind: County pays minimal amount for 45-foot bridge

By Doug Russell, News Editor

STIGLER, Sept. 17 — What can you get for small cost; say 15 percent of the full price? A toy that breaks as soon as it’s played with? A stale bag of generic chips? Outdated stuffing mix?

Not Haskell County Commissioner Paul Storie.

He was able to get a $330,000 bridge constructed at a cost of only $50,000 to the county.

“We paid for the engineering fees and $20,000 of the construction costs,” Storie said. “Other than that, it didn’t cost the county anything.”

A few things still need to be completed on the 45-foot, 3-cell bridge project on West Liberty Road, but the bridge structure itself, as well as a 1,000-foot stretch of 6-inch asphalt, has been completed. “We’ve got to get the guardrails up,” Storie said.

In addition, crews still need to finish some sodding, and cement ditch liners on both the north and south sides of the roadway need to be put in. “Those liners and the sod will help prevent erosion,” Storie said. So will a large amount of broken stone, called rip rap, that lines much of the creek bed leading to and away from the bridge.

The three 6-foot tall cells will allow water to move under the bridge much easier than it could under the old bridge, which had 4-foot cells. “Before, if it flooded, sometimes the water would go over the road,” Storie said. “It shouldn’t do that with this bridge.”

The bridge project was largely paid for with federal money known as BR (for bridges and roads) funds. A BR-funded bridge, Storie said, is more expensive than some others that could be constructed because of federal guidelines that have to be met. “They’re more expensive, but the thing is, if we don’t spend the money, it leaves our county and goes to another.”

The new bridge on West Liberty Road is the first in Haskell County to be paid for with BR funds, Storie said, adding that federal money paid $230,000 of the bridge’s cost, with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma kicking in another $90,000.

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