Picturesque bridge near Adel
should be saved, backers say.

Petitioners want to fix it, but Dallas County wants to demolish it.
A vote is set for next week.

Adel, Ia. - Adel-area residents are lobbying Dallas County officials to preserve the 119-year-old Wagon Bridge east of town.

The Dallas County Board of Supervisors will decide Oct. 2 whether to tear down the wrought-iron bridge or give members of the Save Our Bridge Foundation time to raise money for needed repairs.

Area residents say the bridge over the Raccoon River just north of U.S. Highway 6 is popular with youths who dive off the structure into the river and is used as a backdrop for family pictures. Preservationists would like the bridge repaired and open to pedestrians only.

County officials say that the 20-foot drop to the water is dangerous for swimmers and that the one-lane bridge can't hold vehicles likely to use it if it remains.

County Engineer Jim George said the bridge should be demolished, since U.S. 6 has been widened to four lanes just south of the old bridge.

"The bridge has a couple strikes against it when you look at the age and the recent engineering report, which recommends closure," George said. "It's a nice old bridge, it really is. I wish we could leave it up, but it's a liability to the county."

The cost of repairing the bridge is unknown, George said, although an estimate is being compiled. Adel officials considered moving the bridge to the Dallas County Fairgrounds at a cost of $2.2 million, he said. The estimated cost to demolish the bridge is $36,000.

The Save Our Bridge Foundation, a group created to preserve the bridge, met with Dallas County supervisors Friday to discuss the historical value of the structure. Foundation members want time to apply for grants that would pay for a private engineering study of the bridge's condition, said Alice Wicker, Dallas County supervisor.

Allela Denny of Adel, founder of the Save Our Bridge Foundation, said she was determined to find money to preserve the bridge. Denny said she had applied for a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa to pay for a second evaluation of the bridge.

Denny gave the supervisors a letter Friday from the Adel City Council urging that the committee be allowed to raise the money. She also gave the board a petition with the signatures of 1,167 people who support efforts to save the bridge.

"I don't think the supervisors took us seriously until today," Denny said.

The supervisors' decision on the bridge's fate will be based on safety, Wicker said. "It depends on what their engineering study says and the county's liability. At this point, it's a safety issue."

If the bridge is torn down, Denny said, the foundation will use its money to build a monument to the structure.

The Des Moines Register Staff Writer
09/25/2001

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