WITTER SPRINGS – After its aging bridge was closed in October due to safety issues, Witter Springs Road has a brand new bridge.

The old bridge – a 55-year-old, one-lane wooden structure that crossed Dayle Creek – was closed Oct. 4 after a county road crew found a hole in the deck during a road inspection, as Lake County News reported last fall.

County Road Superintendent Steve Stangland said this week that a new steel bridge reopened to the public on Feb. 15.

The new bridge, said Stangland, spans 17 feet, and is about 2 feet wider than the old bridge, which takes it from the one-lane category to the narrow bridge classification. The new bridge and its approaches are overlayed with asphalt.

Stangland said his road crew members experienced some delays in building the bridge, mostly due to weather – especially the January snow storms, during which the crews were plowing county roads around the clock.

The weather put them two weeks behind their original goal of having the bridge completed by Feb. 1, said Stangland.

The good news is the bridge's cost.

“We're right around $40,000 right now,” said Stangland, adding that the bridge would normally have cost the Road Department close to $100,000.

Stangland said the department was able to realize substantial savings because the bridge's abutments didn't have to be replaced, and they were able to use unused materials left over from other projects.

Crews are now finishing up installation of the bridge's guard rail, said Stangland, which should be completed within a few weeks.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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