Muskogee hoping to qualify for federal grant money
October 5, 2011
Muskogee Phoenix
By Dylan Goforth, Phoenix Staff Writer
— Gov. Mary Fallin’s plan to fix the state’s structurally deficient bridges by 2019 will include a lengthy list in Muskogee.
Muskogee County Commission Chairman Gene Wallace said Muskogee County has 194 bridges on the National Bridge Inventory, and around 40 percent of those have some sort of deficiency.
“The majority of these bridges were built between 1919 and 1945,” Wallace said. “Now, that’s a pretty useful lifespan if you think about it. But they may not meet current weight standards.
“For example, there may be a bridge that was built way back in the past that structurally is all right, but it will have a weight limit of 14 tons and have 90-ton vehicles traveling on it. Those are the ones we would try and replace.”
Fallin’s Bridge Improvement and Turnpike Modernization Plan calls for an increase in the amount of state revenue planned for road and bridge repairs by $15 million per year and will raise the road and bridge maintenance cap to $550 million. Wallace said another aspect of Fallin’s plan will be to divvy out a chunk of the expected growth in motor vehicle fees over the next three years to counties for repair work... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, October 5, 2011
by John Cox