MoDOT Director Pete Rahn holds a concrete block that fell off a worn-out bridge, located east of Columbia on Route WW over Grindstone Creek. The bridge is one of 800 that will be repaired by 2010.

MoDOT plans improvements to state bridges

SBJ Staff

Posted online September 7, 2006 | 11:00 pm

Missouri’s 800 worst-condition bridges will be repaired by 2010 under a plan that could cost as much as $600 million, the Missouri Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

The Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Plan calls for the repair or replacement of the state’s bridges in poor conditions. Missouri has more than 10,000 bridges in its highway system.

The department will spend the rest of the year identifying the bridges most in need of repair; bids will be submitted and a contract will be awarded next summer. MoDOT will award a single contract to design and build the upgrades and maintain the bridges for the next 25 years.

The plan is expected to cost between $400 million and $600 million. MoDOT will dedicate existing federal bridge replacement funds to finance the program, according to a MoDOT news release.[[In-content Ad]]