Morgan County to replace Peterson bridge

Work is expected to commence shortly on the replacement of the Peterson bridge at 4000 North 4000 West which has experienced flooding multiple times in recent years. On Aug. 6 the Morgan County Commission approved Wardell Brothers Construction as the contractor for the project. Wardell Brothers submitted a bid of $260,890.

“This project started Jan. 6 of 2022,” Morgan County Emergency Services Director Austin Turner told the county commission at their meeting. “We were down there, and there was an ice jam, and it was flooding down the road and potentially getting ready to flood some homes. So, Bret [Heiner, Morgan County public works director] and myself got together and decided we needed to do something about that bridge. It’s county infrastructure that’s extremely difficult to maintain and to fix.”

Turner acquired a FEMA grant that pays 90 percent of the project cost.

‘It makes me a little nervous bringing this grant forward because it was kind of a rabbit out of the hat kind of a miracle grant,” he said. 

Wardell Brothers came back within dollars of what the engineer’s projected cost was to do the bridge [$250,000], Turner said. The second bidder was Allied Underground Technology with a bid of $412,128,34.

The project will include the installation of box culverts and widening and increasing the height of the bridge. More than half of the project funds will be used for new culvert construction. The remainder will cover engineering and road paving. The project was designed by Wasatch Civil Consulting Engineering. Some of the construction management has already been paid for through the mitigation funds, Turner said.

The new bridge should double the height between the creek and the bridge “so that twice as much water and hopefully the ice chunks will make it under the bridge,” Turner said. “Right now, it’s about 18 inches; we’re going to double that.”

Morgan County will pay for its portion of the project cost from flood mitigation funds.

“This seems like a killer deal on this,” Commission Chair Milke Newton told Turner. “Thank you so much for your work on the grant – that’s huge.”

“If it [the contract] gets approved today and we get it signed, I will hand deliver it tomorrow to get them going because Wardell Brothers knows that it's a really quick turnaround,” Austin said.

Installation of the new bridge must be completed by Nov. 15. 

“It's the grant cycle; they’re really putting some pressure on me to make sure it gets finished up and we want it done and completed,” Turner said.

If not, Wardell Brothers will have to pay $200 a day until the project is finished for “liquidated damages for delay” according to the contract.

The project should not impede any river traffic, Turner said. “Right now, Peterson Creek you could probably walk through it and not get the tops of your feet wet, so that’s why we’re doing it this time of year. There is water in it but it’s a half inch deep.” λ