Osage River rail bridge on target

Heavy equipment is used to move a large steel girder into place on the Union Pacific railroad bridge under construction in Osage City, Mo. MoDOT officials said Tuesday that the Osage River project will be done at the end of the year as planned.
Heavy equipment is used to move a large steel girder into place on the Union Pacific railroad bridge under construction in Osage City, Mo. MoDOT officials said Tuesday that the Osage River project will be done at the end of the year as planned.

MoDOT officials said Tuesday the Osage River rail bridge project will be done at the end of the year as planned.

The placing of the last steel spans is taking place this week. So far, six of the spans have been put up.

Along with this work, there also will be new track and signaling devices installed at both ends of the bridge.

The old bridge will be closed and retrofitted to be aligned with the new bridge and tracks.

The work is moving from east to west.

Current estimates have all the work done by the second week in December.

The total cost for all the work originally was estimated at $24 million to $25 million, but MoDOT officials now think the work could come in $3 million to $4 million under budget.

Accompanying photo:

Construction work on the rail bridge