BOONE AND COOPER COUNTIES - At their monthly meeting on Feb. 4, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded a contract to rehabilitate two mid-Missouri bridges included as a part of the Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program.

Widel, Inc. of Blackwater, Mo. submitted the lowest bid of $469,986.49 to replace the bridge decks of the Sugar Creek Bridge on Route F in Boone County and the Harlan Branch Bridge on Route BB in Cooper County. The Sugar Creek Bridge is located five miles west of U.S. Route 63. The Harlan Branch Bridge is located four miles south of Route 135.

Work on both bridges is planned during the spring, summer and fall 2009 seasons. The bridges will close while work takes place and traffic will be detoured. 

Ten bridges in the mid-Missouri area and 67 bridges statewide are now under contract to receive improvements as part of the Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program.

Safe & Sound is an innovative program developed to replace or rehabilitate more than 800 of MoDOT's most worn out bridges in five years. Ninety bridges in the central Missouri area are included in the program and scheduled for improvement within the next five years.

For more information about these bridges or other transportation-related matters, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) or log onto www.modot.org/central.