Hooper bridge opens, Cloverly road project is next

The Hooper North bridge opened on Friday, and the Dodge County Highway Department is now turning its attention to the Cloverly Road project.

Work to replace a 1954 trestle bridge that formerly spanned the Elkhorn River on County Road 19 half a mile north of Hooper began in 2013, and then stopped during the winter weather months, when the new bridge was opened to winter traffic.

The bridge closed again on March 24 to complete final details of the project before reopening last week.

A.M. Cohron and Son Inc. of Atlantic, Iowa, was the general contractor for the $1.581 million federal aid project. The county and the state were each responsible for 10 percent of the costs. M.E. Collins Contracting Co. Inc. of Wahoo was the concrete contractor.

The route is a major thoroughfare for agricultural traffic in the Hooper area, including Hoegemeyer Hybrids, but the 1954 trestle bridge had reached the end of its life expectancy, and weight limits were placed on it before it was removed to make room for the new bridge.

Highway Superintendent Alan Doll told county supervisors on Wednesday that he is beginning the process of notifying businesses along Cloverly Road, where an asphalt resurfacing project is expected to begin on June 9.

Dodge County in January awarded a $362,000 contract to Pavers Inc. of Waverly to resurface Cloverly from U.S. Highway 77 east to Platte Avenue, and then about one block north on Platte.

The project, intended to alleviate rutting, will mill the road surface and overlay new asphalt. County crews will then raise the shoulders to match the new road elevation.

The project includes several hundred feet of guardrail replacement, and curb and gutter work at the intersections.

Well probably be doing some minor work at first, some curbs and patching and stuff like that, and then theyll start milling the old asphalt down and hauling that away, and then coming in and overlaying the six-inch asphalt. Once thats completed, theyll do the shoulder work and guardrail, Doll said.

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Hooper bridge opens, Cloverly road project is next