Presence of lead paint driving up costs for 1903 bridge linking Knox and Davies counties

Now, 114 years later, it's common knowledge that lead is actually a highly toxic metal that can cause a range of health problems. When lead is absorbed into the body, it can cause damage to the brain and other vital organs, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

When lead paint is involved in a construction project, it has to be removed.

Lead paint is just the latest comeuppance for county officials since the renovation of Bridge 45 began several years ago.

There's a 3-ton weight limit on the 422-foot-long, 15-foot-wide heavily-traveled bridge, and Knox County highway superintendent Benji Boyd said officials had to either shut it down or fix it up.

“The way I understand it, it kind of forced our hands,” Boyd said, whose new to his position. “I would say that something had to be done. There are federal funds involved — at some point, we asked for them and were awarded the funds — but it's not an Indiana Department of Transportation-mandated project.”

Actual work on project began in March 2013 and will finish up in just a couple months, likely by the end of July, Boyd said.

And with several weeks still to go, Boyd told commissioners this week, the final price tag will be somewhere in the $200,000 range — a cost that will be shared between Knox and Daviess counties.

“I have asked INDOT for additional federal funds, but I don't know where that will go,” Boyd said during the Tuesday commissioners meeting. “The painting is about two-thirds complete and we did find lead paint (on the bridge), as we suspected.”

It's the lead paid that's driving up the costs.

As part of the project, the bridge was tested for lead paint and is now being sandblasted before it's given new coats of lead-free paint. With lead paint present on the structure, INDOT mandates that the sandblasting is contained and the lead paint shards collected for disposal.

“You have to dispose of that in a special landfill,” Boyd said. “You can't just take it to any landfill because it's hazardous. The INDOT specs say you have to pay the contractor so much extra to dispose of it. That's why it's costing upwards of $200,000 or more.”

Since there aren't very many iron truss bridges left, encountering lead paint on a project like this isn't common. In fact, Boyd said, Knox County may never encounter this issue again.

“It's not something real new, but it's something that hasn't been taken care of for a long time,” he said. “It happens on these old bridges, it's just that we don't have very many of those left.”

Commission president Kellie Streeter said the project has actually been in the works for over 10 years and the grant money that was allocated for the work has now been used up. The lead paint disposal is the last piece of the project — but the presence of lead paint is something that should have been detected long before the finish line came within sight.

“Once you sign up for these federal aid projects, you are obligated to see the contract through and I am dismayed that the paint wasn't tested in the very beginning,” she said Friday. “That was included in the project specs for the grant itself.

“But hindsight is 20/20. We'll have to make it right and just close the book on this project.”

The paint wasn't tested until recently and the positive results of those tests came back within the last couple months. Why it wasn't tested up until this point, though, is anyone's guess.

In any case, the total cost of the rehab work is now creeping over $1.5 million, Streeter noted.

As the sandblasting and painting are finishing up, county officials will likely breathe a sigh of relief once Bridge 45 opens back up to traffic.

“It is a huge relief to know we're at the end of this project,” Streeter said.