Take the long way home; Fulton County residents surprised to find road closed

Some residents in Fulton County were shocked to find upon attempting to return home, that the roadway they had previously crossed was no longer passable.

According to Fulton County Office of Emergency Management Jeremy Langston, there was some confusion about the closure of Little Creek Bridge on Mt. Calm Road.

“To shed a little bit of light on the bridge over Little Creek on Mount Calm Road; I will apologize for no notice given, but that bridge should have been closed right after the flood event,” Langston said. “I do not know why it has remained open after being notified by ARDOT (Arkansas Department of Transportation). As I sift through these notifications, I am sure to find more bridge failures and with such some more closures will be possible. We are actively looking at ways to repair/replace or create a bypass route to restore normal traffic flow.”

Although ARDOT issued toa letter to Fulton County Judge Kenneth Crow on April 6 stating an on-site inspection had taken place on the bridge and it was deemed unsafe however; the road remained open until May 7.

The issue of multiple bridges being damaged in Fulton County was addressed publicly by Judge Crow during the briefing with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders April 8 following the historic April 5 flooding.

During the meeting with Gov. Sanders and other state officials, Crow said, “You get a different perspective from the air then when you’re driving on the road. We have some river crossings that are completely gone. Some culverts are completely impassible. We put over $50,000 (in materials) on the roads in the last few months but no amount of engineering can withstand what we went through. We had 13 bad bridges before, now we have 30,” Crow said. “ARDOT (Arkansas Department of Transportation) called and had us close one yesterday. The Spring River Cold Springs Access is a number one priority for replacement but now there is an urgency to get those done. We’ve got 685 dirt and 50 miles of pavement so it’s really a challenge. Our focus is on getting the roads passable right now.”

According to ARDOT’s letter, regarding the closure of the Little Creek Bridge there are multiple issues with the bridge including “Abutment 1 is severely undermined up to 5′ and the abutment wall is actively settling.”

ARDOT stated any failure on the part of the county to close the bridge would result in ARDOT closing it and then billing the county for the closure.

“Failure to immediately close this structure to traffic will require ARDOT to: Physically close the structure with ARDOT forces and then charge the County for this work, and/or Withhold funds from the County or within the County for construction projects,” ARDOT’s letter read. “The replacement of this bridge may be eligible for Local Bridge Program funding.”

Langston indicated he anticipated additional bridge closures, however; exactly which bridges may be closed remains to be seen.