Published: July 13, 2008 10:46 pm         

Rural fire departments concered over Oklahoma 132 bridge project across Salt Fork

Hawley Fire Chief Ro-bert Moore is concerned about a bridge project that is planned in Grant County.

The state plans to reconstruct the Oklahoma 132 bridge over the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River.

The project is projected to take 150 to 200 days to complete.

Moore is concerned closing the bridge will create an added half hour to rural fire departments’ response times to fires and other emergency calls on the opposite side of the bridge. Rural fire departments frequently use mutual aid from other departments as backup unless the fire is very small. However, Moore said the removal of the bridge would force mutual aid fire trucks to go at least 27 miles out of the way.

The bridge currently has a 15-ton rating, which is among the lowest ratings the state will allow and keep a bridge open to the public. Moore said oil field traffic, including workover rigs, cross the bridge at their own risk all the time. Fire trucks cross the bridge, but most are below the 15-ton limit. Larger trucks go around it, but that adds 20-30 minutes to their travel time, he said.

A public information meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 29 in the Nash Fire Station classroom to discuss the project.

Moore said if the Oklahoma Department of Transportation would build a bridge adjacent to the current bridge and leave the old bridge open during construction, it would help cut down on time.

“There doesn’t seem to be much thought to the inconvenience to people from northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas who use it as a thoroughfare,” he said.

Heather Thomas, town clerk at Nash, said she also has heard of the extended time being projected to complete the project, but had little information on it.

Grant County Commissioner Jerry Shaffer said has heard very little from Oklahoma Department of Transportation, but with a state highway project that isn’t unusual. A proposed project to work on the entire highway was discussed as long as 15 years ago, but has never been done, he said.

“It will be an inconvenience to a lot of people. But when it’s a state project it gets out of my jurisdiction,” he said.

Shaffer has heard from a number of rural firefighters and realizes it will be a problem for them. Oklahoma 132 is a connection between Wakita, Nash and Manchester fire departments and other areas of the county. He hopes something can be worked out and admitted the bridge in his district definitely needs replacing. Shaffer thinks ODOT will listen to problems, but said until the public hearing no one will know for sure.

“It looks like they would leave the bridge intact (during construction) because it does inconvenience a lot of people,” he said.

Shaffer wants to see lots of people attend the public hearing July 29 in Nash.

Representatives of ODOT could not be reached Sunday afternoon for comment.