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Commission backs single-span for Red Gulch Bridge; Orchard Bench Road secured with RAISE match
Summary
The Big Horn County Commission approved an engineer recommendation to pursue a single-span Red Gulch Bridge contingent on SLIB approval and heard that a RAISE grant for the Orchard Bench Road Project is fully funded with a $452,000 state match; bids are due June 18.
The Big Horn County Commission on May 19 approved an engineer recommendation to build a single-span Red Gulch Bridge, contingent on approval from the State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB). Engineer Bridges told commissioners the single-span option adds "approximately $52,000" in up-front cost but that maintenance savings compared with a box culvert should offset that difference in the first few years.
Bridges also reported the county secured Wyoming governor’s matching funds of $452,000 for a federal RAISE grant to fund the Orchard Bench Road Project. He said the total project is "just over $4 million" and noted that the federal grant requires a 10% cost match; any bid savings must be returned to the federal grant. Bridges said the request for proposals will be issued soon, proposals are due June 18, and the commission will hold a special meeting June 22 to review bids.
Road staff provided several operational updates: crews repaired a cut on Cannery Road, rebuilt a dump-truck transmission, and will allow a contractor to use part of the county’s permitted gravel pit for crushing operations, a move that county staff said transfers remediation responsibility for that area to the contractor with Bureau of Land Management approval. Commissioners approved right-of-way permits for Road 11 and Lane 41 during the same session.
Chairman Deb Craft and Commissioners Bruce Jolley and Dave Neves voted to carry the motions reported in the minutes; where individual member votes were not recorded, the minutes list outcomes as "carried." The commission sent the single-span decision forward "contingent on SLIB approval," directing staff to clarify any state restrictions that might limit changes to the approved grant scope.
The commission also convened an executive session on potential litigation during the road-and-bridge discussion; no action was taken following that session.
