MILLER/CAMDEN COUNTIES - Today, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded a contract to construct an interchange bridge and pave a section of the new U.S. 54 Expressway in Miller/Camden Counties near the existing Osage River Bridge.

The contract amount is $5,226,719.50 and was awarded to Emery Sapp and Sons, Inc. of Columbia, Mo.

Construction on the nearly two-mile section of roadway will begin in early 2010 and will be completed in the fall. The work is a part of a larger plan to construct a new expressway through the Lake of the Ozarks. 

Once paving and interchange construction for this section are completed, motorists will have access to existing Business Route 54 from the new expressway. 

"This project is an important piece that moves us closer to completing a new, safer four-lane highway that will be able to better accommodate traffic through the Lake area," said MoDOT Project Manager Trent Brooks. "Once this section of roadway is completed and opened to traffic, motorists will be able to travel the new U.S. 54 Expressway from the Grand Glaize Bridge all the way to the Osage River Bridge."

The entire U.S. 54 Expressway will run from west of Route KK to the Osage River and is scheduled for completion in late 2011.

For more information, call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) or www.modot.org/central.