County plans replacement of bridge guard rail
Drivers inconvenienced by the closure of County Road 44 south of Russellville will soon be relieved. At the Jan. 22 Franklin County commission meeting, the commission approved the replacement of the guard rail on the bridge that is damaged.
According to Probate Judge Barry Moore, the job has been contracted out to Alabama Guard Rail Inc. for the price of $7,402.50.
The guard rail was damaged in December 2017 when a loaded sand truck hit it, according to Michael Pounders at the highway department. He said the tractor trailer was going north over the bridge when the rear of the trailer struck the guard rail, causing the trailer to ride up on the rail and pull the truck over into a ditch.
“Hopefully it will get replaced in the next two months. It shouldn’t take them more than two days to get the job done,” Pounders said.
The guard rail being replaced is actually a fairly new guard rail, installed just a few months ago as part of an ATRIP project, according to Pounders.