Commissioners Discuss Blackburn Bridge with Engineering Firms

The Blackburn bridge connecting Osage to Pawnee county in District Three was damaged to the point where no cars are able to cross that bridge. At the Board of Osage County Commissioners Meeting, the commissioners met with three different engineering firms to see who would fit best in making the road repairs. EST Inc, Kellogg Engineering and Guy Engineering were all there to state their case.


EST Inc. made the case that they would want to do a hydraulic test study to see what caused the bridge to fall apart. They also said they would be able to start on the project immediately.


Kellogg Engineering is currently doing a project along Oologah Lake that is very similar to the work that would need to be done along the Blackburn bridge. This firm made the case that they are already on call for two of the three districts in the county, which proves that they have good accessibility. They believed that the best way to prevent this from happening again is to lower the fuse plug.


Guy Engineering was the last firm to speak. They were the ones who worked on the initial project. Darren McKinney, who represents district three where the collapse occurred, let the representative know he wasn't pleased with the amount of help their company showed after the collapse. The representative did say they would be able to start on the project whenever necessary and that they would want to do a full inspection of the embankments.


The commissioners will wait until next week to make a decision on which firm to pick.