The circa-1925 Highway 240 Missour River Bridge at Glasgow soon will be history.

Except for the pylons, the 85-year-old Highway 240 bridge across the Missouri River soon will be history. But before it goes the folks in Glasgow have planned a magnificent send-off.

The City of Glasgow and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce — in conjunction with MoDOT — will stage a bridge closing festival on Saturday, Aug. 2.

Plans so far will include a parade, festivities at Stump Island Park, a small museum to be set up with memorabilia of the bridge, an Air Force fly-over, and the possibility of a number of dignitaries on hand.

Any organization or group interested in participating in the parade (which will start at noon) is invited to take part. This might include marching bands, floats, car clubs, motorcycle clubs, equestrian clubs, civic organizations, school organizations, candidates for election, etc.
To reserve a spot in the parade, contact Glasgow Mayor Fred Foley at 338-2450 (day), 338-5025 (evenings) or flourmiller@aol.com or Debbie Haskamp at city hall, 338-2377, or dhaskamp@sbcglobal.net.

The bridge officially will close on Monday, Aug. 4, and ferry service will begin immediately. It will run daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The $14.3 million project will take about 12 to 15 months to complete. While the existing pylons will be used, the entire existing superstructure will be removed. It will be replaced with a wider concrete span which will not require overhead supports (similar to the highway bridge at Boonville).
In a related development, Glasgow officials scored what many see as a significant victory over the Kansas City Power and Light Co.

The giant utility originally insisted that huge power poles would need to be placed at Stump Island in order to replace wires currently attached to the old bridge. However, persistent efforts on the part of Mayor Fred Foley and others convinced KCP&L top officials to bury the lines under the park and then run them underneath the river.

An artist’s concept of the new bridge.

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