Jefferson City Council introduces contract to construct Bicentennial Bridge

A rendering shows the addition of rail car-style museums to a bridge leading to Adrian's Island. The museums would highlight Missouri's history.
A rendering shows the addition of rail car-style museums to a bridge leading to Adrian's Island. The museums would highlight Missouri's history.

After years of planning, the Bicentennial Bridge project is close to taking a major step forward.

The Jefferson City Council on Monday introduced a construction contract for a project known as the Bicentennial Bridge, a pedestrian walkway to Adrian's Island.

The council introduced a contract in the amount of $3,752,768 with Phillips Hardy Inc. out of Columbia for the construction of the bridge, which city officials hope to see completed by the state's bicentennial in 2021.

Talks of a bridge spanning from near the Capitol to Adrian's Island have been ongoing for decades. However, 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.

Although an original deadline to chose a developer passed in November 2019, city officials continued the process, culminating in the contract with Phillips Hardy Inc. on Monday.

In approving the contract, the council will also approve the relocation of $3.11 million from the Parks and Recreation Foundation fund to be used for the project. The funding has been raised from private donors, including DeLong, and kept by the foundation.

Any additional funding needed for the project on top of the $3.11 million will come from Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department funds that have been allocated for the development of the riverfront.

Also on Monday, the council introduced an amendment to the Master License and Cooperative Agreement with the parks foundation, the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission and Bicentennial Bridge LLC.

The agreement allows for completion of the project as a city-bid and managed public works project using the project fund held by the parks foundation.

The amendment allows the City Bridge Maintenance Sinking Fund and the Island Park Development Fund to be used to cover costs of the project if the Foundation Project Fund doesn't cover the full cost.

If those funds need to be used, future fundraising would be used to replenish them.

The Foundation Project Fund has raised approximately $4.1 million in private funds. The city-held Bridge Maintenance Sinking Fund contains $300,000 and the Island Park Development Fund contains $399,835.