OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen A culvert on West Sheridan Road, just east of Strawser Road, nearly collapsed on Tuesday. As a result, the road is closed for the foreseeable future.

SHERIDAN — A culvert on West Sheridan Road, just east of Strawser Road, nearly collapsed on Tuesday around noon. As a result, the road has been closed for the foreseeable future.

“The bridge is closed until further notice,” Sheridan Highway Superintendent Jeff Feinen said. “We’re working on a solution to replace the bridge deck.”

According to Feinen, while the road was being paved, “a big dip in the road” was spotted on the culvert — which, in this case, looks and acts like a bridge, but does not meet the 20-foot specification to be technically considered a bridge. Upon further inspection, Feinen said it was discovered that “several of the beams have failed.”

An emergency assessment of the site was conducted, which resulted in the bridge being closed to all traffic. Plans for fixing the bridge were discussed further with engineers on Wednesday morning. The bridge was last assessed in 2018.

The culvert gave out after continuous traffic from heavy trucks passing over it due to paving work being done in the area. Feinen and his crew had to scramble to address the 22 trucks loaded with asphalt at the time of the incident.

“At one point, one of the beams started to give away under the pressure of all those trucks,” Feinen said. “It was kind of a snowball effect.”

Feinen, who also serves as Highway superintendent for the town of Dunkirk, credited the assistance Sheridan has received from throughout the region through its shared services agreements.

“All the local towns are helping us out. That’s what we do, we help each other out,” Feinen said.