As less travelers are on the roads due to COVID-19, now may be the optimal time for road and bridge construction projects.

Guthrie County Engineer Josh Sebern says one of their biggest projects this year is a bridge replacement in Orange Township on Chestnut Road over the South Raccoon River, “What we’re going to do is remove that structure and put a large double barrel box culvert in there. That will help a lot with the bridge width and there won’t be any guard rails so that should help with getting the agriculture equipment around. And also we’ll be able to do away with the load limit on that road and that’ll free that road up for traffic.”

Sebern shares the project went out for bid last January and Gus Construction of Adair was awarded the contract priced at $1.2 million. The late start date for work is June, and Sebern says the project is being paid for by federal dollars through a state swap program. Other County projects this year include patching County Road P28 from Stuart to Panora, a few bridge-culvert replacement projects that will go out for bid soon, as well as some Hungry Canyons Alliance projects that expect a late start date of 2021 to afford good bids from contractors.