The Missouri River Highway 240 Bridge at Glasgow opened to traffic at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Motorists are now able to use the bridge for the first time since August 2008.
Construction necessitated the bridge being closed for more than a year beginning Aug. 1, 2008. Because of high water at various times and other factors, the time was pushed back about six weeks beyond the one year period initially announced.
As a public relations gesture to area residents, MoDOT had stopped charging for ferry service which was free after Aug. 1 of this year.
Back in 2007, MoDOT representatives visited on various occasions with Glasgow city officials and commissioners in Saline and Chariton Counties, noting that the old bridge was “in pretty bad shape” and was the most in need of repair of all the 25 bridges which span the Missouri River.
While the old bridge was historically significant, it was deficient in design and functionally obsolete. Completed in 1925, it was last rehabilitated in 1986 and was routinely closed and/or restricted for regular maintenance.
There were several options examined, but complete replacement (such as was done at Boonville) was not seen as feasible, according to MoDOT officials.
Complete replacement would have involved many years of planning at a cost of more than $20 million, including planning and securing right-of-ways. Associated costs would have added millions more. Moreover, money was simply not available, MoDOT stated.
The option eventually OK’d by MoDOT came in at about $14.5 million and was described as “partial replacement” using the old piers.
The newly-completed bridge resembles in appearance the Boonslick Highway Bridge at Boonville. It is expected to be good for up to 50 years or more, MoDOT states.
MoDOT notes that the partial replacement that was used has a number of advantages, including minimizing future maintenance, minimizing environmental issues and impacts, and an accelerated construction schedule.
The top superstructure was removed and a new steel deck was placed on top with a new roadway.
The roadway is 26 feet wide with 11-foot driving lanes and 2-foot shoulders, as opposed to the old roadway which was 20.3 feet. The vertical clearance remained the same, 15.1 feet.
MoDOT earlier had conducted traffic studies on the bridge. To no one’s surprise, the heaviest traffic times come during spring planting and fall harvest.
The official bridge ribbon-cutting ceremony continues to be scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16. The event will take place at Stump Island Park. U.S Sen. Kit Bond and other state and local dignitaries will join the celebration.
Additional details about the ceremony will be announced at a later date.
Among those expected to be on hand Oct. 16 will be well-known Fayette resident Roger Daniels, 91, who — as a child of 6 — was among those present for ceremonies opening the bridge in 1924.
A similar reconstruction project will take place on the Miami Missouri River bridge which will close at 7 a.m. Oct. 5. There will be no ferry service.