U.S. 36 highway travels east-to-west, through the northern counties of the state of Kansas. Just out side of Scandia, KS, the highway crosses the Republican River, a major source of irrigation for farms and ranches in the region.

On Sept. 21, 2001, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) awarded a $5.9-million contract to Capital Contractors Inc., of Lincoln, NE, to construct a new bridge over the river. Two hundred-fifty working days was provided to complete the project.

According to Jeff Woodward, construction engineer of KDOT, the new bridge is being constructed adjacent to the old structure allowing traffic to continue to use it during construction, thus avoiding detours. When completed, the new span will be 1,426 ft. (434.5 m) long and 46 ft. (14 m) wide.

Woodward stated that the new span has nine piers with three drill shafts per pier. The deepest shaft is 61 ft. (18.5 m). The new structure will be a continuous composite steel plate girder, with a placed concrete deck and a silica fume concrete wearing surface.

According to Woodward, unforeseen delays occurred in the construction of the piers when a soft layer of material was discovered in pier number seven when the original shaft was tested for soundness. This was corrected by drilling two smaller shafts on each side of the original shaft and tying them together with a beam, providing an adequate foundation for the pier.

Approximately 80,272 cu. yd. (61,372 cu m) of earth was moved to prepare roadway access to the new bridge. Dunn Grading, of Deshler, NE, was the subcontractor for this portion of the contract.

Woodward noted that the original plans did not adequately tie the elevations of the new roadway to the old roadway. As a result, sequencing the work to carry traffic and tying the roadways together was completed under field design.

The project is scheduled for completion this spring.