Since the Colorado River bridge received a failing grade in an inspection a couple of years ago, reflecting the bridge’s status as “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete,” many local residents have held their breath as they cross the aging structure. That will change in the next couple of years, as crews have set up a staging area at Lions Park to begin work to construct a replacement bridge.

The functional problem with the current bridge is capacity, officials with the Utah Department of Transportation have said. Its narrow lanes, with just one in each direction, are a tight squeeze for the heavy tourist and commercial traffic traveling U.S. 191. With the highway widened to two lanes north of the bridge, and improvements planned to the south, the existing bridge creates a traffic bottleneck.

The bridge’s structural problems are related to age and design. The bridge, built in 1955, shows apparent signs of its age from beneath, where the abutments are littered with rust, crumbling concrete, and even sheared bolts.

The problem with the bridge’s design is that a failure of any of its supports would mean a complete failure of the structure, UDOT officials have said. That concern is compounded by the river itself, which scours the base of the pillars supporting the bridge. Some of those pillars, while deep, don’t go all the way to bedrock.

UDOT has done work to mitigate the scouring problem, and the bridge is stable. However, its rating of 47 puts it three points below the replacement threshold on the Federal Highway Administration’s 100-point scale. While they have identified these deficiencies, UDOT officials have said they remain confident in the bridge’s safety.

They should only have to maintain that confidence for about another year, when the first half of the new bridge will be completed, and traffic will be shunted from the old bridge to the new two-lane section to the west. Construction crews will then build the eastern two-lane section of the new structure. The total cost of the new four-lane bridge is estimated to be about $38.5 million, said Kevin Kitchen, spokesman for UDOT’s Region 4.

Wadsworth Brothers Construction crews established themselves quickly in the Lions Park parking area, which they’ll use to stage their operations for the next couple of years. Project superintendent Cody Allen said he’s excited to be working in Moab.

“We have some big fights to see who gets to come down here,” Allen said.

Allen’s crew will set up a giant crane first thing so they can build a trestle for their equipment out into the river, just as crews did for the pedestrian bridge. The trestle should take a couple of months to build, and Allen said the first half of the bridge could be complete within a year.

While the finished product will be much different – and larger – than the pedestrian bridge, Allen said the construction impact shouldn’t be any more significant. He also said he hopes the company can maintain a positive relationship with the community.

“We’re trying to get along with the people while we’re here,” Allen said. He added that he wants to keep open lines of communication, but he asks that people respect the hazards of the jobsite. “If they come in they need to check in – this is a hardhat area. If people want to see the work, they can get a pretty good view from the pedestrian bridge.”

The entire project is expected to take about two years. The new bridge will provide for Moab’s traffic needs until at least 2035, at which time UDOT studies show that traffic is expected to have significantly increased and a larger bridge might be needed, Kitchen said.

The bike path under the bridge will be closed throughout the project. It will be replaced as an integral part of the new design.

The area around the new bridge will remain a work in progress, according to Moab City Community Development Director David Olsen. The area is a patchwork of ownership, with UDOT owning much of Lions Park; Grand County owns adjacent land and the boat ramp on the north side of the bridge, Utah Sovereign Lands owns the space beyond that, and, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service own lands bordering the space, which is within city limits up to the river.

The Moab Trails Alliance recently received a $3 million grant for alternative transportation in National Parks and public lands, which will go toward a bike path up the river road from Lions Park. The city is working with Utah State University to plan the Lions Park hub, which will be completed following the bridge construction.