The Hurricane Deck Bridge under construction in Camden County became another step closer to completion Tuesday with the pouring of the final section of the bridge's new deck.
The new bridge will carry Missouri 5 over the Osage arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.
"Construction of the new bridge is slightly ahead of schedule," said Missouri Department of Transportation Area Engineer Bob Lynch. "There is a good chance we'll have the bridge open to traffic before the scheduled completion date, which is late 2013."
The new bridge is located south of Sunrise Beach. When finished, it will be wider than the current bridge, with two 12-foot driving lanes and seven-foot shoulders on each side. It is being built on the east side of the existing structure, which was completed in 1936.
The existing bridge has remained open to traffic during construction of the new structure, so the impact to traffic flow has been minimal. Once the new bridge is completely finished, the original bridge will be demolished. That portion of the project is scheduled to take place in spring of 2014.
American Bridge Company, Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas, is the contractor on the $32.3 million project, which began in May of 2012.
The public can watch the bridge construction in progress via a time-lapsed camera located on the bridge that captures construction images every 10 to 15 minutes. The link can be found on MoDOT's website under Major Projects at http://www.modot.org/.