The new bridge on Liberty Road at Rising Creek is now open to traffic.
The old bridge, built in 1929, only had one lane and was in need of replacement. Work to make Liberty a two-way bridge began in December.
The Cole County Commission approved a contract in October to replace the bridge, and the funds to pay for it came out of the county's half-cent capital improvements sales tax.
Commissioners approved the low bid of $413,179 from Brenneke Construction, which completed the job two weeks ahead of schedule.
County Engineer Eric Landwehr said the bid came in $33,000 above the engineer's estimate. They didn't get as many competitive bids as they have in the past because of the economy being better and fewer contractors being available.
Landwehr said the department had budgeted a total of $400,000-$450,000 for the project, and the engineering work cost $85,000-$90,000.
Some finishing touches remain to be added, but that work won't impact traffic on the bridge and should be done by April 15.
Completion of the project coincides with other road improvements the Missouri Department of Transportation is planning on U.S. 50/63 this summer along with the Route J overpass near Taos.
"The full closure of the overpass will take place next summer," said Bruce Green, MoDOT Central District project manager. "We'll try to expedite the work with a stiff time frame to get the work done. There will be penalties if the contractor goes past the deadline."
Green said drivers will be able to use the Lisletown crossover and the Militia Drive overpass as alternative ways to make turns while the work takes place.
"The closure will last 60-90 days in order to get the job done," he said. "Work will probably start in May. The closing will not occur until after Memorial Day."
Green said the cost for the project is $1.2 million.
"The deck needed to be replaced, and there is cracking on the abutments," he said. "We looked at a full rehabilitation. The overpass was built in 1975 and still had some good sections, but not enough to save. It's a steel bridge, and it will have to be repainted. The paint was bad. It's lead-based, and that's a more expensive process to complete. That's what they had to do at the Missouri River bridge."
Replacing rather than rehabilitating will be cheaper and quicker, and it should last about twice as long - about 75 years, Green said.
MoDOT plans to improve the at-grade intersection on U.S. 50/63, near the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop F headquarters, by installing lanes that allow drivers to pull out of the through traffic so they can slow down and exit the road.
The $430,000 project will reconstruct/realign the location where South Shamrock Road intersects with U.S. 50/63 and Shamrock's connection to Liberty Lane.
It also will construct acceleration lanes at North Shamrock Road and at the new Liberty Lane intersection, as well as build a right-turn lane at the new Liberty Lane intersection.
The third project to be done in the area is repaving of U.S. 50/63 from the Moreau River to the Osage River.
"From April through October, there will be a lot of action taking place in this corridor," Green said. "We apologize for the inconvenience. But the funding is there, and we need to get this work done."