Commissioners authorize bids for Bridge 44 overlay and OK chairman to sign NDOT agreement for Bridge 155

Adams County commissioners on Tuesday authorized county staff to advertise for bids on a rigid deck overlay for County Bridge 44 and approved a delegation for Chairman Steve Bailey to sign a draft CCMG contract with the Indiana Department of Transportation for Bridge 155 when the agreement arrives.

The county’s presenting staff member, Nate, told commissioners the plan is to advertise this Friday and open bids at the board’s Feb. 18 meeting. “My plan would be to advertise that for the first advertisement this Friday in the papers, and then be and with the bids due at your February 18 commissioner meeting,” Nate said, describing the schedule.

Nate and other staff recommended using hydro-demolition to remove delaminated concrete before placing a full overlay. He said hydro-demolition preserves the concrete by avoiding the micro-cracking that can be caused by jackhammering and yields a single, watertight surface over the repaired areas. He described the process as removing separated concrete, exposing steel strands, installing sacrificial (galvanic) anodes on exposed steel and then placing a new overlay.

The presentation noted the overlay is locally funded and intended as an intermediate treatment to extend the deck’s life — the goal is to defer full replacement and gain “another 25 to 30 years” of service in some locations. The staff said the county is supplementing state-mandated inspections by “chaining” decks (a physical sounding method) to detect hidden delamination that can be missed in standard visual inspections.

On Bridge 155, staff presented a draft CCMG contract with NDOT that would fund 75% of the project. Commissioners approved a motion authorizing Chairman Steve Bailey to sign the agreement through DocuSign when the final document is received. Nate said the draft is available for review and that signature would be a single signature via DocuSign. The motion to delegate signature authority passed.

The county also reported recent guardrail work at Colbert following a crash; staff said the damage was repaired on Jan. 9 with standard mesh level-1 guardrail and impact ends. On a larger HSIP safety-improvement project discussed in the meeting, staff said three consultants expressed interest and that scoring was completed between meetings; staff will negotiate with the selected consultant and return with details. Staff cautioned that although the HSIP grant will reimburse most costs, the county is expected to cover initial match expenses and plan to request a supplemental appropriation to cover the upfront design and match costs if needed.

Commissioners voted to authorize the Bridge 44 advertisement and granted the chairman authority to sign the Bridge 155 agreement when it arrives. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting minutes provided; motions were recorded as passed.

Looking ahead, staff recommended adding a physical chaining step to paid bridge inspections to better detect subsurface delamination and said the county can realistically do about three full deck overlays a year given budget constraints.

Provenance: The discussion and motions related to Bridge 44 advertisement, hydro-demolition method, Bridge 155 CCMG agreement and guardrail repairs appear in the meeting transcript beginning with staff remarks introducing bridge work and the advertisement plan and conclude with the motions authorizing advertisement and the chairman’s signature delegation.