A $2.2-million bridge replacement on Jasper County Highway F-62 over the North Skunk River east of Lynnville is expected to have a significant impact on travel in that area later this year. Jasper County Engineer Mike Frietsch says the project just west of the Jasper/Poweshiek County line is to begin April 1st, and will probably run to Thanksgiving.

“I am not going to mince words. This is going to be tough. There is no other good alternative to that road at all. The traffic count is higher. It’s going to have a regional impact basically.”

Peterson Contractors of Reinbeck submitted the only bid on the 314-foot bridge project. Their $2,233,387 quote was below the $2.4 million engineer’s estimate. Frietsch says all the steel on the bridge is original from when it was built in 1935. The bridge deck was replaced and widened from 24 to 26 feet in 1990, when Highway F-62 was still Iowa Highway 225. According to Frietsch, the county took over maintenance for the highway in the early 2000s.