Trestle Creek bridge completed

SANDPOINT — Work to replace an aging Highway 200 bridge across Trestle Creek is substantially complete, according to the Idaho Transportation Department.

The project was completed in a single construction season largely because the bridge’s precast components were constructed off-site and strategically installed. The construction method has been used elsewhere in the state, but it’s the first time it was utilized in the Panhandle region.

“That’s the first one in our district,” said Ken Sorensen, ITD’s resident engineer.

Sorensen said the design-build method saves taxpayers money by cutting down on construction time and eases the impact to motorists who use the bridge during their daily commute.

“We are thinking outside of the box,” said Sorensen.

The new bridge replaces a 73-year-old span that had a lowly sufficiency rating due to deteriorating bridge deck, superstructure and substructure. Sorensen said the bridge was in such bad shape that it easily crumbled when demolition contractor Lippert Heavy Equipment Inc. began dismantling it.

The new bridge, the components of which were built in Nampa, is a single-span concrete girder bridge. Apollo Construction of Kennewick, Wash., was awarded the $3.4 million contract for the bridge replacement project.

The construction method also aided efforts to mitigate impacts to threatened bull trout and kokanee. A fisheries biologist was brought in as part of the contract and there was a seven-week environmental window to do in-stream work for the project.

“The day after the in-stream work finished, the fish showed up,” said Sorensen.

The work also involved removing deadfall debris that had accumulated under the bridge and an adjacent railroad bridge.