The approach to the Main Street Bridge in Cottage Grove is in danger of collapse. City leaders plan to re-direct road repair funds for an emergency fix.
The bridge is just outside Richard Meyers' office in City Hall. The Cottage Grove City Manager says an engineering firm found the riverbank beneath the bridge is eroding so much that the roadway on the approach could fail.
Meyers: “It’s one of those that, if we ignore it, yeah, it might last another year or two but then we’re getting real close to a catastrophic failure, and we don’t want that.”
Meyers says the city has budgeted money to repave bumpy south 6th street, but the priority now is Main Street Bridge. The city doesn’t know how much it will cost to fix it.
A report published last year says more than 400 Oregon bridges are structurally deficient.