After the bridge on County Road 46 almost washed away in 2009 due to flooding, the Chilton County Commission voted on Monday to replace the bridge.

County engineer Tony Wearren said after the process of sending the bid packages out, reviewing the bids and accepting them, construction to replace the bridge could start as early as November.

Money for the bridge will come out of the refinanced bond money fund, and the project could cost the county roughly $145,000.

Originally, Wearren said the bridge was a small wooden “3-ton” bridge that was subject to flooding.

“We had a tremendous amount of flooding in 2009 and the flooding just wracked the bridge,” Wearren said. “The bridge almost washed away.”

The new bridge will be a precast concrete bridge with a concrete deck and will not be load restrictive.

Wearren said the bridge is used by residents traveling on County Road 73.

Eight bridges were approved in May for Chilton County under the Rural Assistance Match Program (RAMP).

The first priority for funding in each RAMP county is the replacement of county bridges posted for school bus traffic and eligible for federal funds.

County Road 46 was not covered under the RAMP program but was the next bridge the county needed to replace outside of the eight required by the state under RAMP.

Wearren said County Road 46 will not be covered by federal funds but paid for with county

funds.

“This bridge is being replaced by vote or wish of the county commission,” Wearren said. “This was just the next bridge that needed to be worked on that was out and needed to be replaced.”