Anyone that uses the bridge on South Grimmell Road in Jefferson will need to use an alternate route soon.

Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson says the bridge on South Grimmell Road will be closed for replacement starting this coming Monday. He points out the project to replace the aging structure will take one year to complete and there is a posted detour route for traffic. 

The detour is on Westwood Drive and 237th Street, to K Avenue, then to County Road P-18 and back to Iowa Highway 4. At the August 5th Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting the contract was approved for $2,088,602 to Godbersen-Smith Construction of Ida Grove. Peterson notes that Greene County Engineer Wade Weiss applied for the City Bridge Fund grant with the Iowa Department of Transportation and the county is paying its share through federal aid bridge funds. He thanks the county for handling this project.

“The bridge is within the city limits, but it’s on an important county access road and they’ve really taken a lead on it. And just again, want to express our appreciation to the Board of Supervisors and particularly to the engineer department for really leading that up.”

According to the city, the project includes replacing the structure with a modern bridge that has wider lanes, improved guardrails and upgraded the load-bearing capacity for heavier vehicles and increased traffic volume.