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Overpass reopens just 37 days after accident
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By Bob Watson
bwatson@newstribune.com
Jefferson City commuters had a new-old way to get to work Thursday morning.
The newly built Jefferson Street overpass was opened to traffic just 37 days after the original bridge was heavily damaged - and closed - by a fuel tanker explosion and fire.
The project's total cost was $1,385,446, including St. Louis-based Pace Construction Co.'s extra $125,000 - $25,000 a day for the maximum five days - as an incentive for finishing the work early. Next Monday was their contract deadline.
As traffic crossed the newly completed bridge behind him, Roger Schwartze, the state Transportation Department's Jefferson City-based Central District engineer, said at a Thursday morning news conference the price included Pace Construction's contract “plus all of the suppliers that we ordered materials from ahead of time - and they all had delivery dates that they had to meet so we could get this project completed ahead of schedule.”
Building the new Jefferson Street overpass cost about 50 percent more than a normal project which, MoDOT Director Pete Rahn said, would take roughly $800,000.
“You understand, we would not, typically, build a bridge like this in the middle of winter,” he said. “But, we recognized that it was important to get it up and open as quickly as possible.”
MoDOT engineers decided to demolish the bridge after estimating it would take up to three months to repair the nearly 50 year-old bridge, which was damaged Nov. 27 when a fuel-tanker ran off U.S. 54, overturned and exploded.
Western Oil Co. driver Jack Kaiser, 59, Jefferson City, was killed in the wreck.
Yet to be determined is how much of the repair costs will come from MoDOT's budget and how much from insurance.
“We will be filing against the (fuel) carrier's insurance,” Rahn told a reporter after the Thursday morning news conference. “There's obvious liability for that - exactly how much we'll recover, I don't know what percentage.
“And I'm sure it will be drug out for awhile.”
Schwartze noted the contractor worked around the clock to complete the project, taking only a Christmas holiday break - while the concrete bridge deck was curing after it had been poured.
“They had to take extraordinary measures to make sure the concrete didn't freeze” as it was poured into the new structure, he said. “They had to wrap all of their forms in insulated blankets and put heat on the inside, to keep the temperature of that concrete very nice and warm, so it would cure and get strength and we could go on to the next step.”
The newly built Jefferson Street overpass was opened to traffic just 37 days after the original bridge was heavily damaged - and closed - by a fuel tanker explosion and fire.
The project's total cost was $1,385,446, including St. Louis-based Pace Construction Co.'s extra $125,000 - $25,000 a day for the maximum five days - as an incentive for finishing the work early. Next Monday was their contract deadline.
As traffic crossed the newly completed bridge behind him, Roger Schwartze, the state Transportation Department's Jefferson City-based Central District engineer, said at a Thursday morning news conference the price included Pace Construction's contract “plus all of the suppliers that we ordered materials from ahead of time - and they all had delivery dates that they had to meet so we could get this project completed ahead of schedule.”
Building the new Jefferson Street overpass cost about 50 percent more than a normal project which, MoDOT Director Pete Rahn said, would take roughly $800,000.
“You understand, we would not, typically, build a bridge like this in the middle of winter,” he said. “But, we recognized that it was important to get it up and open as quickly as possible.”
MoDOT engineers decided to demolish the bridge after estimating it would take up to three months to repair the nearly 50 year-old bridge, which was damaged Nov. 27 when a fuel-tanker ran off U.S. 54, overturned and exploded.
Western Oil Co. driver Jack Kaiser, 59, Jefferson City, was killed in the wreck.
Yet to be determined is how much of the repair costs will come from MoDOT's budget and how much from insurance.
“We will be filing against the (fuel) carrier's insurance,” Rahn told a reporter after the Thursday morning news conference. “There's obvious liability for that - exactly how much we'll recover, I don't know what percentage.
“And I'm sure it will be drug out for awhile.”
Schwartze noted the contractor worked around the clock to complete the project, taking only a Christmas holiday break - while the concrete bridge deck was curing after it had been poured.
“They had to take extraordinary measures to make sure the concrete didn't freeze” as it was poured into the new structure, he said. “They had to wrap all of their forms in insulated blankets and put heat on the inside, to keep the temperature of that concrete very nice and warm, so it would cure and get strength and we could go on to the next step.”
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Fyreyez wrote on Jan 4, 2008 8:17 AM: