JEFFERSON CITY - On March 4 the Missouri Highways and Transportation commission awarded a contract to rehabilitate four mid-Missouri bridges included in the Missouri Department of Transportation's Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program.

Don Schnieders Excavating Company, Inc. of Jefferson City, Mo. submitted the lowest bid of $997,978.10 and was awarded the most recent contract to replace the decks of the following bridges:

• Route E, Four Mile Branch Bridge in Callaway County (located 1.5 miles east of Route DD)
• Route M, Chouteau Creek Bridge in Cooper County (located two miles south of I-70)
• Route HH, Smith Creek Bridge in Morgan County (located one mile east of Route 5)
• Route D, Moniteau Creek Bridge in Moniteau County (located four miles northeast of Route KK)

In an effort to speed construction, the bridges will be closed during the work and traffic will be detoured around the work area.

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 are scheduled for improvement within the next five years. 

A total of fourteen bridges in the mid-Missouri area are currently under contract to receive improvements during the 2009 construction season.

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.