Mid-Missouri bridges on threat list

This old bridge is located on Mokane Road in Callaway County near the city's airport and sewage treatment plant.
This old bridge is located on Mokane Road in Callaway County near the city's airport and sewage treatment plant.

Mid-Missouri's 10 counties have 39 bridges on the list of structurally deficient bridges in the state.

Three Cole County bridges were included.

Public Works Director Larry Benz was familiar with all three and what it would take to fix them.

A bridge over Moniteau Creek on Moniteau Creek Road has a low volume of traffic.

"It will eventually close," Benz said. "The last time we did a count there were just four cars that crossed it each day.

"It's old, has narrow width and wasn't built for today's traffic. It's been this way for several years."

Another low-traffic bridge, on Hemstreet Road over the North Moreau Creek Bridge, also is on the list.

"We talked to residents in the neighborhood and one half wants to close it while the other half wants it left open," Benz said. "That's because there are lots of walkers who cross the bridge to get to a walking trail in the area.

"We have done some rehab on the bridge deck the last few years and it has a load limit, but it doesn't make sense to spend several hundred thousand or a million dollars to replace it when there's not that much traffic that crosses it."

The third Cole County bridge on the list, over the South Moreau Creek on state Route D south of Stringtown Road, is scheduled to be replaced next summer.

The work is being done to replace a deteriorating, one-lane truss bridge with a new two-lane concrete bridge.

The state Transportation department proposes to close Route D during the construction next year, and detour traffic onto alternate state routes.

The detour is scheduled to last three months and is approximately 20 miles long.

The project is expected to cost around $1.2 million.

MoDOT plans to award a contract in January

and have construction begin in February, as part of the state's road and bridge construction budget.

"We will be doing work on a low water crossing in the area so we want to make sure we're not doing the work at same time as the bridge replacement," Benz said.

Only Maries County has no bridges on the list, which includes:

COLE COUNTY

Moniteau Creek Road over Moniteau Creek.

Hemstreet Road over North Moreau Creek.

State Route D-South over the Moreau River.

CALLAWAY COUNTY

Old Mokane Road (County Road 4038) over Dry Creek, east of Jefferson City.

Old U.S. 54 over Hillers Creek.

County Roads 373 and 382 over Clifton Creek.

County Road 445 over Clabber Creek.

County Road 1051 over the Loutre River.

County Road 231 over Auxvasse Creek.

BOONE COUNTY

East Hartsburg Bottom Road over Hart Creek.

Burnett School Road over Cedar Creek.

Rustic Road over the North Fork of Grindstone Creek.

CAMDEN COUNTY

Missouri 5-South over the Osage Arm.

State Route J-South over the Niangua River.

County Road W-125 over Macks Creek.

GASCONADE COUNTY

State Route T-South over the Bourbeuse River.

MILLER COUNTY

The "Swinging Bridge" over the Grand Glaize Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Missouri 17-South over Saline Creek.

Singer Road and Buechtor Road over Tavern Creek.

Blue Ridge Road over Little Bear Creek.

MONITEAU COUNTY

Klein Road over Saline Creek.

East Splice Creek Road over Splice Creek.

Possum Trot over Factory Creek.

Moniteau Church Road over Howard Creek.

Smith Creek Road and Westview School Road over Smiths Creek.

Gamble Road over Burris Fork Creek.

MORGAN COUNTY

Little Buffalo Road and Clear Water Road over Little Buffalo Creek.

Old Missouri 5 over an unnamed tributary of Little Gravois Creek.

OSAGE COUNTY

County Roads 608 and 611 over the Maries River.

County Road 625 over Swan Creek.

County Road 631, two bridges, over a branch of Brush Creek.

County Roads 804 and 806 over Owens Creek.