A wider U.S. 166 bridge at Arkansas City is progressing

Drone Footage of the progress on the U.S. 166 Bridge

By Tim Potter

KDOT South Central Kansas Public Affairs Manager

As KDOT’s project manager for the U.S. 166 bridge at Arkansas City, Robin Gregory has seen plenty of progress – and a copperhead snake up close – during construction of a 980-foot structure over the Arkansas River.

Gregory has watched crews work around flooding this summer, keeping the project in line for a November completion.

“We have fought mud,” she said. Before that, “I’ve seen these guys work in rain and snow.”

She’s had to stay nimble herself. One summer day, while checking flooding near a bridge abutment, Gregory encountered a copperhead snake just a few feet away. “I’m done!” she thought. The snake hissed. She retreated. “After that,” Gregory said, “everywhere I walk, I watch.”

It was just one instance in a 28-year career for the KDOT veteran. She is an Engineering Technician Specialist performing the duties of Construction Engineer with the District Five, Area Three office in Winfield.

The new bridge will offer travelers a wider east/west span over the river. It will replace a bridge built in 1937. The old bridge limited oversize loads because it was 22 feet wide; the new bridge will be 44 feet wide, with ample shoulders.

The new bridge is a steel-beam-supported structure, with nine piers across the river. It took a methodical process to drill through the riverbed and set the piers into bedrock.

With the main support structure in, crews have been concentrating on the deck. It takes methodical work and inspection, too. A precise number of steel reinforcing bars have been fitted into a crisscross pattern. The bars, coated with epoxy to keep them from corroding, are hand-tied together. A massive finishing machine consolidates concrete into the grid set inside the bridge formwork.

As Gregory walked over temporary decking on a recent day, she pointed out massive bolts that help connect the underlying structure. The bolts get checked to make sure they have the right tightness.

The bridge is a $6,368,390 project.

Gregory credited the primary contractor, A.M. Cohron & Son Inc., based in Atlantic, Iowa, with an office in Emporia. “They’ve been exceptionally good,” she said.

Area Engineer Andrew Wilson pilots a drone that regularly flies over the bridge, recording the progress.

For Gregory, the bridge will be her last project before she retires.

“I’m proud to have this be my last one,” she said.