A new bridge in Osage County is the first of its kind in Kansas. Not the bridge itself, but for the way it was paid for. The bridge, near Scranton, became the first project in the state to use soybean checkoff funds, set aside for such projects, through the transportation coalition. It’s also the first official use of the Soy Transportation Coalitions’ report that was put together to offer innovative solutions for replacing and repairing rural bridges.
The project used Soybean Checkoff Dollars. When a farmer sells soybeans, they give half of one percent or a nickel for every bushel to put back into the county. The Soy Transportation Coalitions’ innovation report was designed to give counties options to consider when they replaced or repaired bridges, often with a significantly smaller price tag. The Checkoff Dollars significantly reduced the cost of replacing the bridge, originally more that $300,000, down to $106,000, and involved a different style of bridge design to stay in place during high water.
