WILLMAR -- The Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners got a primer Tuesday on bridge inspections.
During a tour of county road construction projects that are under way, completed or need to be done in the future, the commissioners spent some time under a New London timber-frame bridge, learning about the checklist of safety items bridges are required to pass to be safe.
Joe Steffen, the team leader for Kandiyohi County's bridge inspection team, said it takes about 2½ months to inspect the county's 117 bridges.
Steffen said inspectors look at things such as the bridge deck, railing, substructure, caps and wing-walls and measure the effect of weather, traffic, corrosion and chemicals.
He gave a brief demonstration on how timber supports are tested for any weaknesses.
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The 1962 bridge the commissioners looked at received a sufficiency rating of 86.2 during its last inspection in 2005, which gave it an adequate ranking. If the 32-foot bridge needed to be replaced now, it would cost nearly $350,000 to do so.
The commissioners took a smooth ride down the recently completed project that was the longest construction project in the county. The 13½-mile stretch of County Road 7, formerly known as state Highway 104, received the final wear-coating at the end of August. It was striped last week.
The project, which took two years to complete, extends from state Highway 9 near Sunburg south to U.S. Highway 12.
The project included shaving down some sharp curves and widening the road and adding shoulders. Nearly the entire $9.2 million project was paid for with state funds -- so-called "turn-back" funds. The county now owns the road and will be required to fund future maintenance of it.
Gary Danielson, public works director, said he intends to nominate the road for an award from the Minnesota Asphalt Paving Association. He praised Duininck Bros. Construction Inc. for its work, including the lack of noticeable construction joints, which is where paving begins and ends at the end and beginning of each day.
"This is an amazing road," Danielson said. "This really rides."
The commissioners took some rather rough rides on roads that were still under construction, including a short segment in Colfax Township where the van in which the commissioners and a news reporter were riding became bogged down in a bed of sugar sand.
Crews from Monson Construction stopped their work long enough to pull the van out backward with one of their large road graders.
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"I haven't been stuck in sugar sand for 25 years," said Danielson, who was driving the van and sheepishly admitted defeat as the wheels spun and the van stayed put.
When that happens, he said, "you want somebody close by."
