With the main construction season coming to a close this year, Guthrie County officials are already planning for next year.

County Engineer Josh Sebern says he has 12 bridges that are currently in the design phase, along with five box culvert projects. There are also repair projects that need to be done on several bridges that have eroded over the years.

“These past five, six, seven years have really taken a beating with the big, heavy rains. It’s amazing the power of water and what it can do to bridges and culverts. We’ve had two federal disasters in my time here. We get things cleaned up right away, but there’s years of damage that it takes to recover from those events.”

One major project for next year that Sebern wants to fix is the Bagley Blacktop on county road P-18. The County Board of Supervisors recently approved the engineer’s plans for the project and bid letting is scheduled for February.