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Boise River bridges undergo repairs after last winter's high flows

ACHD crews are repairing three bridges that were damaged.

A lot of us would probably rather forget last winter even happened with the record snowfall, then the flooding that followed.

The Ada County Highway District hasn't been able to forget. They're still dealing with the effects of last year's high flows on the Boise River, which have damaged three bridges.

Craig Quintana with ACHD says the three bridges that needed immediate attention were at East Parkcenter and Capitol boulevards, and Fairview Avenue.

The Parkcenter bridge didn't need much work. Quintana says that's because the structure is more modern - but that's not the case with the other two bridges.

"The bridges themselves, the abutments sit in the riverbed so they're on soft material," said Quintana. "With the scour that was caused by the hydraulic flow there were some holes that were getting a little too close to those supports."

Crews are now working on all three bridges, putting in hard material like boulders.

"We're filling in and armoring those holes," Quintana said. "So when we do get those increased water flows it'll have something to vent its fury on rather than soft riverbed or our concrete holding up the bridge."

It's a problem that Quintana says they've been keeping a close eye on throughout the year.

"We need to get on it now in the wintertime when we have low water conditions so we can protect those spans when that water comes up ands starts flowing fast," Quintana said.

A mild winter so far has definitely helped.

"We may have been able to get our work in, but it certainly would've been a compressed timeline and it's nice to have that breathing room," Quintana said. "Winter is not done yet so we'll just have to see what comes in the next several weeks."

Quintana says they will haul about 50 dump truck loads of rock material to fill the holes at those bridges. He says you can expect the work on the Fairview Avenue bridge to continue through the end of the month.

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