Franklin County is moving ahead with the replacement of one of the oldest bridges in the county.
The county commission Tuesday approved a $1,397,254.60 contract with L. Krupp Construction, Ellisville, for the replacement of the Enoch’s Knob Road bridge over Boeuf Creek.
The county will be reimbursed for 80 percent of that through the federal surface transportation program.
The current bridge, a steel truss with a wooden deck, was built in 1907-08 by the Missouri Bridge & Iron Company.
The old bridge will be torn down. It will be replaced by a three-span steel plate girder bridge.
Highway Administrator Eva Gadcke said the contract was awarded to Krupp, the lowest bidder. The county received a total of seven bids for the project.
She said construction should begin in about a month.
The project is one of several STP bridge replacements going on in the county. Others include Country Club Road and Herbst Road.
The county also is replacing a low-water crossing on Boeuf Lutheran Road, but that project is being funded entirely with county money.
Officials will seek an extension for two federally funded bridge projects planned for New Hope Church Road.
“Everything planned for 2012 should see some sort of action by August,” Gadcke said.
That includes roads to be repaved and converted, she said.
The county has completed a portion of its asphalt overlay work in the county’s western district and will begin on similar work in the eastern district soon, Gadcke said.
Conversion work — paving existing county-owned gravel roads — will begin later this year. The county is awaiting the arrival of a chip spreader it purchased earlier this year.
In all the county will pave about 20 miles of roads this year, Gadcke said.
She said there has been no word yet on the county’s application for federal TIGER grant funds to replace another aging bridge on Bend Road. That project will cost $10 to $13 million — roughly 10 times the Enoch’s Knob project.
The county is looking for a consultant to begin environmental studies in the meantime.
