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Long-awaited work on the South Center Street bridge is still more than a year away but the first step toward that work begins Monday.
The South Center Street Viaduct will close from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Wednesday while Stanley Consultants evaluates the bridge. The firm from Muscatine will identify needed fixes and assemble a list of priorities for the city's consideration.
"We'll be evaluating the existing bridge itself and see what types of things need to be prepared on it," said Dan Fullerton, client services manager. "During that time we'll have a snooper truck out there with personnel looking at the sides of the bridge, underneath, different features of the bridge, documenting the condition of the bridge."
A snooper truck parks on top of the bridge and with its arm -- similar to a backhoe or crane with more joints -- goes over the side and underneath the bridge with someone in the bucket.
Stanley Consultants will also core out samples of concrete for testing. This will help understand the condition of the pavement.
Fullerton said the evaluation is expected to be reported to the city council by June. The report will include options for fixes and cost estimates.
"It basically gives them a road map to what we've observed and what we evaluated in the field," Fullerton said. "From there, the city needs to make a decision on how they want to move forward primarily what repairs they want to do and the costs."
Engineer Jay Koch with the Public Works Department said he is hopeful construction will begin in 2023.
"Basically at the end of this year into next year we'll have a consultant do a design for that work and once that design is complete it will go in to bid," Koch said.
Even before the evaluation Koch said city staff is aware of some repairs it is already expecting.
"We know that there's issues with the finger joints. And we have some preliminary understanding of some issues that are going on," he said.
City Administrator Jessica Kinser researched the city council's resolution appendix to see when major repairs were done. She reported in 2009 there were joint repairs completed at a $95,000 cost. In 2005, a railing and sidewalk project was done and decorative lighting and fixtures were installed for a total of $1.6 million. Then it goes back to 1987 when a deck sealing project was done. No cost was recorded in the appendix.
In November, the Marshalltown City Council approved a professional services agreement with Stanley Consultants for the Center Street Bridge project totaling $121,400. The scope of service in the agreement includes data collection, the evaluation and report, monthly status updates and coming up with project recommendations.
The times for the viaduct closing were chosen to not disrupt peak traffic hours.
"They're just going to try to minimize traffic disruptions as much as they can," Koch said.