MONDAY, May 11, 2026 |
Photo – Meeting announcement – Courtesy Carbon County Road & Bridge
County officials want to hear from residents before closing the Brush Creek Road bridge.
During the May 5th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Road and Bridge Superintendent Kandis Fritz discussed the 100‑year‑old bridge over the North Platte River in Encampment. Known as Bridge DML on Brush Creek Road, the structure is set to be demolished and replaced under the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s Bridge Replacement Off System, or BROS, program.
The BROS program is a federally funded initiative to replace locally owned, structurally deficient bridges. Carbon County has three structures scheduled to be replaced under the program: the bridge over the Encampment River on Baggot Rocks Road, the Medicine Bow River bridge on County Road Three, and the Brush Creek Road bridge.
WYDOT originally planned to construct a temporary crossing to allow local traffic to continue using Brush Creek Road while the bridge was being replaced. However, Road and Bridge Superintendent Fritz said WYDOT has estimated that closing the road during construction would save the state agency $1 million.
WYDOT Project Engineer Diego Fronza said the widening of the river to the south and the steep cliffs to the north make the site difficult to construct a detour, which will increase the cost of the temporary crossing.
Fronza said the entire project is estimated to cost $5.1 million, but the bridge detour will increase the price to $6.6 million. The county is responsible for roughly 10 percent of the project, either $531,000 to close the road or $628,000 for the detour.
Fronza said the Board can also choose not to participate in the BROS program but cautioned that the price of a replacement bridge will exceed the county’s current expected contribution.
The Brush Creek Bridge is scheduled to be replaced in 2028. Fronza said without the need to build a temporary crossing, the project will take approximately one year. With the added cost and complexity of the detour, the project engineer said construction times will double.
During the closure, residents and emergency services will be required to take a 30‑mile detour out to Highway 130 to bypass the site. Road and Bridge Superintendent Kandis Fritz said fire trucks are prohibited from using the existing bridge and already required to take the lengthy detour. Fritz acknowledged the year‑long closure will be inconvenient, but said the money saved will allow WYDOT to replace more bridges under the BROS program.
Commissioner Sue Jones said the temporary crossing would be too costly, adding that moving the bridge is not an option. Commissioner Jones said Brush Creek Ranch employees would be most affected by the closure but would likely be satisfied with the outcome.
Commissioner Jones added that ranchers with operations on both sides of the North Platte River will be inconvenienced as well but said constructing a temporary crossing would increase the time and cost of the project.
Commissioner John Johnson said he would like to meet with residents and landowners before deciding to close the road.
The Board agreed to hold a special meeting in the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga on June 2nd, at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the possibility of closing Brush Creek Road for one year during the bridge construction or building a temporary crossing.
