By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A 10-year Kansas Department of Transportation project is meant to evaluate all bridge structures in the state of Kansas to determine if they can carry legal loads. Tuesday morning, Barton County’s Works Director Chris Schartz explained to commissioners what that means for Barton County.
“All 372 Barton County bridges have a load rating,” Schartz said. “This time, 224 bridges were analyzed this period. We did get quite a bit that we have to put signage on it. It's approximately 188 signs that we are going to have to put up.”
In 2018, legal weight limits for emergency vehicles were increased dramatically. Legal weight limits for fire trucks are 86,000 pounds, gross. Kansas law does not exempt emergency vehicles from weight limits on bridges, so in some cases, weight limit signs will apply only to emergency vehicles.
“You will see some locations that have only emergency vehicle signs, and then you will see some locations that have the usual the three truck signs, plus an emergency vehicle which is a different number,” Schartz said. “We understand we live in a farming community and we do our best to put them as far off the road as we can.”
Weight limit signs are placed 15 feet off the white line when possible. Some posts with only one sign can be temporarily dropped to allow for large equipment to pass through. Emergency vehicle signs will be posted only at the bridges, while signs with three truck and emergency vehicle limits will also be posted at the nearest intersection to the bridge. Local fire departments were made aware of the weight limits.