The defining feature of the Bastrop skyline — the iconic Old Historic Bridge that has spanned the Colorado River nearly a century — will undergo a makeover beginning this month, four years after an inspection found that several areas of the bridge had deteriorated by 50 percent.

Last week, the Bastrop City Council awarded a $200,000 contract to engineering and design firm Kimley-Horn for an evaluation of the bridge’s structural integrity.

The city has allotted $2 million for the complete rehabilitation of the bridge, which will be financed through a bond package. Kimley-Horn’s evaluation will identify all structural deficiencies and help the city create a more accurate budget for the project.

"I understand the sensitivity of an iconic structure like this that you have in the city of Bastrop," Kimley-Horn Project Manager Brian LaFoy told the council last week. "What we’re going to be doing is a comprehensive evaluation, basically an inspection to go in and not only identify the deficiencies of the structure — from a structural standpoint, from a coding standpoint and any other regulatory issue that we can identify — but also that we can quantify those, so that we’re set up to go into design."

The Old Iron Bridge was closed to pedestrians for several days this summer when Bastrop residents and visitors typically gather on the bridge to watch the annual Patriotic Festival fireworks display over the Colorado River. City officials said before the festival that the bridge would be closed during all future large events to prevent overloading.

The bridge will be closed to pedestrians for certain periods of time throughout Kimley-Horn’s evaluation.

The inspectors will assemble a "spider web" system of ropes and pulleys beneath the bridge, so engineers can access and evaluate every component. Divers will also be inspecting the bridge’s cement foundations, and boats will be on the river diverting river traffic around the work areas. Kimley-Horn will also be testing the paint coatings for lead. If tests result positive for lead, the project would have to include lead abatement costs.

"We won’t have the whole bridge closed at one time; we’ll systematically move from one area to another," LaFoy said.

The city’s ultimate goal is not to restore the bridge to its full load-bearing capacity, officials said. Rather, it would be restored to a capacity that can handle large groups of people for events like the Patriotic Festival.

"Clearly, we don’t want to put money into the bridge for (it to support) an 18-wheeler that’s never going to drive over it," Mayor Connie Schroeder said. "Likewise, we don’t want to say: ‘We really would like to have a planter box, but sorry, we weren’t counting on having a dead-load right there.’ So, there’s a logical balance."

The Old Iron Bridge was built in 1923 by the Kansas City Bridge Co. at a cost of $167,000. It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, before the construction of Loop 150’s modern bridge used for vehicular traffic today.

"We’re super excited … for making it also one of the best parks in the city, because it’s right over the water," said Council Member Deborah Jones.