The MICA Board of Directors supports the use of town bridge funds or state funds to purchase land and for the development of water retention projects to minimize or replace bridge structures. Scouring of the streambed during floods may result in the collapse of the bridge. Scour prevention projects may significantly extend the life span of a bridge. Current bridge replacement and rehabilitation funding programs do not currently identify scour prevention projects as an eligible expense. Water retention ponds can be used to effectively reduce the size and costs of a new bridge.
Storm water is retained in a pond and released at low volumes.
Current bridge replacement and rehabilitation funding programs do not currently identify water retention projects as an eligible expense. The costs of water retention projects should be eligible when they result in a bridge cost savings in excess of the pond construction cost. State funding should be provided to counties to achieve transportation results instead of being limited to only those projects that meet pre-determined state criteria. Greater flexibility in the use of these funds will enable counties to address transportation needs in the most cost-efficient manner. The 1999 legislature requested the Commissioner of Transportation to conduct a study of the State Bridge Grant Program in order to assess the effect of implementing an expansion of the current eligibility criteria that is applied to all local requests for state bond funds for bridge replacement and rehabilitation.