Will the McLeod County and Bergen Township boards play chicken over a closed bridge?

Both bodies were standing firm last week on how the County Road 84 bridge’s replacement should be paid for. The bridge was closed Dec. 7 after it was found to be structurally deficient.

The estimated cost of replacement and road grading associated with it is $610,000. If the county receives bridge bonding money from the state, it would have to cough up about $200,000 of that cost. However, if the bridge were repaired using town bridge funds, it would only cost the county $20,000, according to County Commissioner Ray Bayerl.

To use the town bridge money, 4.1 miles of County Road 84 would have be redesignated as a township road. Slightly more than a quarter of that stretch is paved with asphalt, and Bergen Township has no experience in maintaining anything but gravel roads.

For more on this story, see the Leader's April 29 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)