By Belle Nelson

Flooding over the Memorial Day Weekend has forced Hays County officials to contemplate options on how to replace damaged bridges.

One of those is the Post Road bridge, which had been standing for 62 years before damage from floodwaters made it unsafe to cross. 

The county, which has been working on a solution, has tasked Bowman Consulting with putting together a report on a temporary bridge by October 13th. 

The temporary bridge will take approximately four weeks to complete, and will have similar architecture to the original bridge. 

Estimates for the cost of this have not yet been projected, but will be addressed as soon as Hays County receives a plan of action from Bowman Consulting. 

In the long term, Hays County is working with the Texas Department of Transportation to not only replace the original bridge, but to improve it as well. 

The new bridge is expected to have guardrails. The bridge is expected to be higher, but it will also have the capacity for two lanes on either side. 

The permanent bridge will take approximately six months to construct in its entirety. Construction is planned to begin on the new bridge in May of 2016 and is expected to be finished by the end of next year. 

Cost for the replacement is also being considered. 

“The county is committed to paying 25 percent of the cost,” Hays County Precinct No. 4 commissioner Ray Whisenant said. “The Texas Department of Transportation will be funding the rest.”

In the interim, city officials have worked to keep emergency responders updated on the best alternate routes, along with timelines of completion for the temporary and final replacement bridges.