MoDOT to replace bridges
The project is expected to cost between $400 million and $600 million.
Published Sept. 12, 2006
The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to repair or replace 800 of the state's 10,000 bridges by the year 2012.
"By the end of this year, we'll have all of Missouri's busiest highways in good condition through the Smooth Roads Initiative," MoDOT Director Pete Rahn stated in a news release. "Now it's time to start on our worst bridges."
According to a list from MoDOT of bridges in most need of repair, 1,071 bridges are under consideration for improvement. Of those, 16 are in Boone County, including the bridge on Route WW over the north branch of Grindstone Creek in Columbia.
"We know we're going to tackle 800 of the most worn-out bridges in the state," MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said. "We'll be looking at which bridges need it the most and decide which bridges to repair in November or December."
Briggs said the funding for the project will come from existing federal sources and that no new state tax revenue will be needed. The department will work with contractors not only on the initial bridge improvements, but also on maintaining the bridges after the work is finished.
"We get so much a year in federal funding anyway," Briggs said. "We'll work with the contractor to do some innovative financing and frontload that. The contractors will do the work over the next five years, and we'll pay back over 25 to 30 years."
The department plans to select a contractor in the summer of 2007. The project is expected to cost between $400 million and $600 million, according to the news release.
"There are more than 10,000 bridges on Missouri's state highway system, and too many of them need work," Rahn stated in the release. "Rather than improve just a handful every year while the rest continue to wear down, we need to do something dramatic to get them in good shape quickly."
Dave Nichols, the chief engineer at the Columbia Public Works Department, said the city is not working to have any specific bridges included in the program. He said any funding going to the city from the state comes through the Columbia Area Transportation Study Organization.
"Anything that comes through MoDOT goes through the Metropolitan Planning Organization," he said. "When you get federal or state funding, you get it through a funding organization. CATSO does most of our long-range planning and funding."
Nichols said there are other bridge improvement programs the city is looking at, including one that would help improve a bridge on Route K.
Gov. Matt Blunt said the MoDOT initiative is part of an ongoing effort by his administration to make Missouri's roads safer.
"Ensuring Missourians and visitors to our state have safe passageways is one of our most important responsibilities, and I am pleased with my administration's accomplishments to help MoDOT improve road and bridge safety," he stated in a news release.