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Thursday,
September 02, 2010
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| | Email this article • Print this article | Cannonball bridge receives wealth of support
By Ashley Smith
Lawrence County Board passed a state-mandated resolution awarding the City of St. Francisville $231,601 to be used for rehabilitation and replacement of the city's historic Wabash Cannonball Bridge.
"The [Cannonball Bridge] in St. Francisville has long been a private bridge; It has now been declared a state bridge by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)," chairman Charlie Gillespie said.
The county has been allotted $375,387 to its Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) fund to be used for roads and bridges throughout the county. Of this total, $231,601 will go toward the Cannonball bridge. While it may seem like the county is losing money in this deal, St. Francisville representative Alan Smith explained that the Cannonball funds were just added into the county's normal MFT amount.
The agreement between the county and IDOT states that St. Francisville will receive these funds for a 20-year term. According to Smith, inspections to the bridge must be conducted every two years or so at approximately $40-50,000 apiece, which will come out of the MFT fund.
St. Francisville must also create a four-year plan for improvements as part of the agreement with the state.
The Cannonball bridge is actually three bridges: one large piece over the Wabash River and two smaller bridges on either side. Smith said the intention of St. Francisville is to replace one of the smaller bridges at an estimated cost of $450,000.
"The object is to build up funds for replacement [of one of the smaller bridges]," Smith said.
In addition to the replacement, Smith said other plans for the bridge will include turning the smaller bridges into two-lane roads and adding lights to the bridge.
According to Smith, St. Francisville is involved in an 80/20 cost-share agreement with IDOT, meaning the state will pay 80 percent of each project and St. Francisville will have to pay 20 percent.
In addition to the Cannonball bridge, Smith requested that the county include an additional bridge to the agreement for an extra $25,000 per year. Unlike the funds for the Cannonball bridge, the funding for the additional bridge will come out of the county's allotted MFT funds.
"We wanted to get all the bridges in the city into the same agreement," Smith said.
The wooden bridge is located over a set of railroad tracks on 13th Street in St. Francisville, just north of the log cabin.
County board members voted to pass the resolution with both bridges included.
St. Francisville Mayor John Guite said the Cannonball bridge will continue to collect a 50-cent toll each way despite the state funding.
County board members also heard from Terry Patrick, who offered an apology of sorts to Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency Director Jess Angle but also brought forth other concerns involved with the June flood.
"In December I went with Ryan Curtis to talk to Jess Angle. We resolved some issues and brought forth others," Patrick said. "I talked to the sheriff this morning, and he admitted that his department is to be in charge of evacuation but that he has not received the training they need. I hold some bad feelings toward some of the board members because Jess said he was told to stay away from the meetings and speak his side.
"I and other flood victims blamed [Angle] solely, and that's not the way it should have been."
Patrick said she is still concerned about the evacuation procedures in the event of flooding and asked the board to once again fix the issue.
"The board needs to invite Jess or whoever has the answers so the flood victims can be told what guideline we need to follow in the future," Patrick said. "We need something in place that doesn't change just because a person's position changes, and we need to correct the past and assure it will be better next time around."
Gillespie assured Patrick that board members have been constantly monitoring the situation and is aware some things will need to change.
Board member Gene Hays said that while he believes the county handled the June flooding "fantastically," he does believe board members have fallen behind in attaining the National Incident Management System (NIMS) certification through EMA.
"All the county board members need to take this course. I think we might be lacking in this department," Hays said. "People need to take personal responsibilities for what happened out there, too. If you live in a flood area, you need to have the personal responsibility to stay aware the surroundings and watch the river."
Patrick also updated board members of the progress of Southeastern Illinois HOPE, an organization put into place after the flood that helps people with long term recovery.
"So far, we've helped about 20 people and are now working on five to 10 more," Patrick said. "We're running into problems where people have had their phone disconnected and we can't reach them."
Patrick said any flood victims interested in the services HOPE offers should contact Gene Ramsey at 943-5711 or Roger Boyd at 928-2213.
Other items discussed during the meeting included:
• Gillespie announced that the Wabash Valley Service Company's annual meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Feb. 2 at Windsor Oaks in Grayville.
• Tax levies were approved from county townships and put on file.
• County claims were paid in the amount of $406,702.06.
• Highway claims were paid in the amount of $471,685.20.
• Gary Huber was appointed to the Lawrence County Memorial Hospital Board.
• Joe Weger was appointed to the Route 50 Association.
• Board members accepted the financial draft statement from ROE 12 Superintendent of Schools Carol Steinman.
• Robert Johnson and M. George Ivers were appointed as trustees to the Wolfe Prairie Drainage District. Johnson was appointed to a one-year term, while Ivers was appointed to a three-year term.
• Gillespie announced that the courthouse and annex will be closed Feb. 12 due to Lincoln's birthday and also on Feb. 16 in observance of President's Day.
The next Lawrence County Board meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 18.
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