Trees and brush were wrestled out of the Neosho River west of Iola Monday.
The work was done by a Kansas Department of Transportation crew to lessen risks of damage to piers supporting the bridge that carries U.S. 54 traffic across the river.
KDOT Engineer Jim Leaden said the fear was that big limbs would obstruct the river’s flow and possibly lead to scouring of the river bottom next to piers. He said it was not unusual for the scouring to extend as far down as 12 to 15 feet adjacent to bridge supports, with weakening results.
Workers removed a small tree, maybe 30 feet tall, from where it was lodged against two piers. The piers are corrugated steel forms filled with concrete. They reach down to bedrock below the river’s bottom.
Matt Bleier and Justin Shaw, KDOT divers, donned wetsuits and waded out in chest-deep water to fix a heavy strap around the tree. The tree was lifted to bridge’s deck and cut into manageable pieces. A similar pile of brush, in slightly deeper water, was removed from the west side earlier.
A more difficult chore was to coax a huge tree from upstream.
“We broke a 15-ton strap trying to pull it out,” Leaden said.
Next, a one-inch steel cable was tried, but didn’t last long. When pulled taunt, the cable gave way.
At nightfall the tree was still lay against the river’s west bank.
Leaden said brush removal wasn’t a common practice for KDOT, but with some time to spare a crew was dispatched to Iola and would do similar work in Chetopa, with another bridge over the Neosho, today.
State crews clean Neosho
