CHAFFEE BRIDGE TO BE FINISHED SOON

CHAFFEE - Motorists could begin using a new concrete bridge at Nunn Road and Ponderosa by the end of this month. It is a replacement for a wooden bridge that was condemned six months ago.

The bridge is being built just inside the Chaffee city limits, said Reece Brown, Chaffee city administrator. The cost of the new bridge is being split in half by the city and Scott County, and both city and county crews are constructing it.

Brown said it is hoped that the bridge's deck will be poured next week. After that, he said, it could be another two weeks before the bridge opens.

This is the third week of work on the bridge, he said. Brown said the one-lane bridge measures approximately 24 feet in length.

The city of Chaffee condemned the wooden bridge about six months ago, Brown said, after a Scott County engineer inspected it and determined it wasn't safe.

The cost of the replacement bridge has been estimated at $12,000. But Brown said officials don't know if that estimate is correct.

"We won't know what it will cost until we finish it," he said.