From Finance & Commerce

Portion of Nobles County bridge collapses

A bridge in Nobles County is closed to traffic following a partial collapse that occurred while a contractor was working on the bridge deck.

The County State Aid Highway 1 bridge, which extends over Elk Creek near the town of Brewster, was being prepared for bituminous overlay Tuesday when a section of the span gave way under an 80,000-pound milling machine.

‘They were milling the bituminous surface off the bridge deck to get it ready for the bituminous overlay,’ Nobles County Engineer Steve Schnieder said. ‘They had milled off the entire surface’ and were making a final run when the failure happened.

The machine operator escaped without serious injury and no one else was hurt. The operator managed to jump off the machine onto a portion of the bridge deck that stayed intact, Schnieder said.