Bicentennial Bridge project back on track

Adrian's Island is seen from the Capitol dome in Jefferson City. The proposed walkway will be situated between the circular garage and the Veterans' Fountain, shown in the lower left corner.
Adrian's Island is seen from the Capitol dome in Jefferson City. The proposed walkway will be situated between the circular garage and the Veterans' Fountain, shown in the lower left corner.

One of the first deadlines facing a proposed bridge to connect the Capital City to its riverfront has passed, but the dream of building a Bicentennial Bridge has not been derailed, according to a panel overseeing the project.

Members of an ad hoc riverfront committee acknowledge the November deadline to have a developer named for the Bicentennial Bridge has passed, but they say they are confident Jefferson City will see the bridge built by the state's 2021 bicentennial celebration.

The deadline passed after a potential bid was rejected due to a higher-than-anticipated price tag, but with fundraising efforts ongoing and a new bidding process coming, the riverfront committee says it is certain the project is on track after decades of discussion and planning.

Where we have been

Talks of a bridge spanning from near the Capitol to Adrian's Island have been ongoing for decades. But when Jefferson City resident B.J. DeLong donated a substantial amount of money in 2015, the project gained traction.

Adrian's Island - 30 acres of forest and wetlands that lie between the Missouri River and Union Pacific Railroad tracks that stretch about 1 mile from the state Capitol to the former Missouri State Penitentiary - is currently hard to access because of the railroad tracks.

In 1960, Harry Adrian claimed the approximately 30-acre property and donated it to the Jefferson City Housing Authority, which sold it to the city in December 2018.

In order to create easier access to the property, the city and Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce proposed an 826-foot bridge leading down to a riverfront park on Adrian's Island. The bridge would begin between the Senate garage and Veterans Memorial.

While there had been several tries to create riverfront access on Adrian's Island over the last 50 years, organizers' efforts eventually lost steam and the project fell to the wayside. That was until 2015 when DeLong donated $50,000 to get the project started again. The money was used to pay for preliminary design work by engineering firm Bartlett & West for a bridge to the property.

In December 2015, Bartlett & West presented four options for accessing the island - one of those being the access near the Veterans' Memorial. The four options ranged in cost from $2.9 million-$3.59 million.

According to a December 2018 agreement between DeLong, the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Foundation, the city, Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission, and Bicentennial Bridge, LLC, the city originally had until August 2019 to select a contractor for the project.

In October 2019, the council approved a resolution amending the agreement to extend the deadline from August to Nov. 1, 2019.

November came and went, and as of January 2020 - three months later - no contractor has been selected.

But, Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin said the committee believes the project is still on track for the August 2021 completion.

Tergin sits on the ad hoc committee along with Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen, Bob Gilbert with Bartlett & West, Winter Dent CEO Louis Landwehr, Jim Crabtree with Central Bank and Diane Gillespie, executive director of the Jefferson City Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

In October, a contractor was chosen by the committee, in compliance with the November deadline, but a contract was never signed after the bid came back higher than they anticipated, Tergin said.

"The original concept was to choose a construction manager at-risk," Tergin said. "Then we got the bid, and it was higher than anticipated, so we decided to regroup and decide what can be done to get it done within the budget we have before us."

Also in October, the council amended the agreement to allow for a general contractor model, instead of the construction manager at-risk model.

In a general contractor model, the project owner hires one contractor who can then enter into contracts with subcontractors, City Counselor Ryan Moehlman previously said.

A contractor at-risk model would mean the project owner would hire a construction manager for an agreed-upon price, who would then coordinate subcontractors. However, the project owner would enter into contracts with each subcontractor.

If the project were to go over the agreed price, the contract manager "bears the risk of any overage," Moehlman previously said.

The change and the rejection of the contract caused the delay which allowed the November deadline to pass. Tergin said the delay was not a waste of time.

"The original process of the construction manager did give us valuable information," she said. "So that time wasn't lost. It was time that we went through the bidding process to see - here's where we're on track, here's what we would like to change, here's where we need to be. All of that was necessary throughout this process. That time was also very valuable and needed to get us where we are now, anyway."

Where we are now

Tergin said the committee, which meets on an as-needed basis, is currently working on fundraising, with a goal of securing an additional $900,000.

In October 2019, Allen said the committee, which was created by the chamber, had raised $3.7 million of the estimated $4 million to construct the bridge, primarily from private donors. Approximately $3.2 million came from DeLong.

Now, the committee has the full $4 million, but the goal has been increased to $4.9 million.

"We just went over $4 million on gifts and donations, and that's just through networking," Crabtree said. "We really haven't started any formal fundraising, so that's a huge bonus for the project."

An additional $438,000 of previous sales tax revenue was set aside for the bicentennial bridge. Later, the committee decided to only use private funds for the project. Instead, they announced they would use the sales tax funds for bridge maintenance instead.

The committee is working to secure the final $900,000 needed to complete the project.

Tergin said plans for the design of the bridge have also been adjusted. Previously, they had proposed to style the bridge like a set of four replica rail cars, to tie in with the railroad theme.

However, preliminary design talks showed that might be too complex and expensive for the bridge.

"After we bid it out, we realized that really significantly increases the cost," Tergin said. "Not only for just the cost of the rail cars, but the cost of everything else you have to do to support what it would take to put them on."

The new plan is to go with something more open, although final designs haven't been established. Tergin said a fence or mesh style enclosure may take the place of the full walls - because the bridge crosses the railroad tracks, it has to be enclosed.

The new style would allow for better views of the Missouri River and the Capitol building, Tergin said. Crabtree said based on comments he has heard, this would be more popular.

"While the rail cars seemed like a novel idea, the complexity for construction and structural support was significant," Crabtree said. "And really, all the feedback we've been getting from individuals is they don't want to be enclosed in a structure, they want to look at the view."

Where we are going

Tergin said the committee plans to begin the bidding for the construction again in the late spring of this year.

Since the ownership of the bridge was transferred to the city earlier than originally planned, the bidding will now be done by the city.

Crabtree said going through the city's bidding process is a positive change for the project.

"I think having the city put the bid out puts this in a much more conventional format," he said. "Contractors are very comfortable and have a proven track record working with the city."

Tergin agreed and said switching to the city also gives added transparency.

Bids should return to the council around early summer, when they will go through the typical discussion and approval process that any city construction project goes through.

If a contractor is selected, Tergin said, they anticipate construction of the bridge beginning in mid-to-late summer of 2020, giving the contractor about one year to complete the bridge in time for the bicentennial Aug. 10, 2021.

"All that has been done up to now, all those timelines have been to get us to the bicentennial date. Things have changed - we thought maybe we'd be at a different stage at this time, but we have enough time," Tergin said. "We're still on track of our final goal to have it done and completed for the bicentennial. Everything we're doing gets us to that date. I'd prefer it to be done with time to spare, but we know that's our date."

Part of the goal is to ensure DeLong, who is 96 years old, will be able to see the bridge completed.

"I'm hoping they will continue to have progress," DeLong said. "I'm just hoping that this will happen in my lifetime."

Tergin said DeLong not being there to see the bridge isn't a possibility in her mind.

"I already envision her being there for the grand opening and the ribbon-cutting and having her as part of it," Tergin said. "She's very humble and doesn't really want recognition. She just wants it done."