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Stonewall And Harvey Dowell Bridges “Safe For Ordinary Use,” Designing Engineer Says

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – Jim Beatty, the engineer who designed and drew the original plans for both the Stonewall and Harvey Dowell bridges has said that bot...
stonewall bridge

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – Jim Beatty, the engineer who designed and drew the original plans for both the Stonewall and Harvey Dowell bridges has said that both bridges are “safe for ordinary use.”

“The bridges, as built, are safe for ordinary use and will not be subject to catastrophic failure due to ordinary vehicle loads,” Beatty said in a news release issued by the county judge on Thursday (June 25).

This statement comes after Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards requested that all county bridges built in the last 20 years be inspected by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Washington County Justice of the Peace Eva Madison also asked Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to investigate bridge construction issues in the county.

Rutledge declined to investigate the bridges, saying she didn’t have the authority, and the highway department said it wouldn’t inspect the bridges until it was their turn again in the bridge inspection cycle. Each bridge in Arkansas is on a one or two-year inspection cycle.

On Thursday, Madison told 5NEWS that the statement from Beatty fails to address the lack of curbs on the Harvey Dowell bridge and another bridge in the county on U.S. 62.

Madison, who participated in a three-person committee that investigated faulty bridge construction, also questioned why no one has been disciplined in the Road Department for “repeatedly” misinforming the public that there was nothing wrong with the bridges.

In Thursday’s news release, Edwards said she voluntarily placed a three-ton weight limit on the Harvey Dowell bridge on March 19.  Beatty said that once repairs are completed on the bridge, heavier vehicles will be able to use it again.

As of June 8, Washington County Road Department employees were being supervised by the Iowa Bridge and Culvert Company in the completion of the Stonewall Bridge, the release states.

Bids were received on June 16 for the Harvey Dowell bridge, and the contract was awarded to Benchmark Construction of NWA the next day. Work will begin as soon as the Corps of Engineers issues a permit for the county to work in the White River, according to the release.

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