Rusty handrail fix could cost city $100,000s
Keith Roysdon
MUNCIE, Ind. — City officials want to take another crack at fixing the rusty handrails along Fallen Heroes Bridge just north of downtown — and could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it.
The bridge, which carries Wheeling Avenue and High Street over White River at Muncie City Hall, was extensively rehabbed in 2005 when a pedestrian walkway over the river, complete with black railing, was added.
But the metal railing almost immediately started to flake and rust. In 2015, officials talked about a fix but were put off by the cost of removing and replacing the railing, estimated at $680,000.
This week, new bids were opened, but the highest estimate for the work topped that earlier figure.
EARLIER STORIES ABOUT THE BRIDGE
In Thursday's meeting of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission, bids were opened from three companies. Fixes included removing the rusted railing and replacing it with railing coated with paint that won't flake and allow the railing to rust.
Bids ranged from $792,000 (the highest of several options submitted) from James Drew Corporation to $500,000 from S&H Quality Building and Painting to $243,580 from K&K Fence Company.
City attorney Megan Quirk asked the MRC to take the bids under advisement. After the meeting, Quirk told The Star Press that given the wide range of prices she wanted to ensure the bids were comparable and not "apples to oranges."
MRC executive director Todd Donati said a special meeting of the board might be called to award a contract because officials want to get the work done in the next few months.
"If you look at the railing, it's full of rust," Mayor Dennis Tyler said. "We hear from visitors how beautiful the area is (except for the railing)."
Quirk said that the city would almost certainly receive a tort claim notice, or a threat of a lawsuit, if someone cut their hand on the rusty metal as it stands now.
Besides carrying vehicle traffic, the bridge is a popular walking and biking route since the walkway was added. Each Fourth of July, hundreds watch city fireworks from the bridge.
Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.