|
Safe & Sound Update:
- Work has begun on the first Safe & Sound bridge in the Springfield region. Polk County Route AA was closed to traffic on February 23, to allow contractor crews to begin replacing the bridge deck on the Hominy Creek bridge. The bridge project is scheduled for completion in late April.
Program Facts
- Missouri has 10,276 bridges on the Missouri state highway system – 7th largest total nationwide. About 1,100 of those bridges are in poor/serious condition, mostly because of wear and tear on the deck, girders and/or columns. The 802 bridges in the worst condition will be repaired or replaced under Safe & Sound by October 31, 2014.
- 248 of the bridges up for rehabilitation in the program are packaged in small groups based on location, size or type and put out for bids in what is called a Modified Design-Bid-Build process. This process will help accelerate construction schedules and enable at least 100 bridges to be under contract early in 2009.
- 554 bridges to be replaced are packaged in a Design-Build contract. Three qualified teams of engineering/contracting companies are preparing bids. Contracts will be awarded in mid-2009. Construction on some of these bridges could begin later in 2009.
- The use of one team to design and build the entire project is particularly effective on large, complicated projects that offer significant opportunities for innovation in order to save money and speed completion.
- MoDOT will dedicate about one-third of its annual existing federal bridge replacement funds to finance the program without a tax increase or additional funding. Payments are expected to be about $50 million a year.
- Bridges were selected for the Safe and Sound program based on their condition and role in supporting Missouri’s businesses, farms and families and because funding for improvements had not already been allocated through traditional programs.
Road Closures
- Drivers should expect that most of the bridges on the Safe & Sound program will be closed to speed construction and to save money. Closing the bridge and repairing or replacing it where it sits today greatly reduces the need to buy additional right of way, to relocate utilities and to build expensive new roadway connections. Avoiding these costs means that MoDOT can improve more bridges across the state.
- Contractors have a specific amount of time to begin and complete work on each bridge. Before work begins, MoDOT will post signs at each bridge in the program, alerting drivers to anticipate construction activity. Information about construction will be provided to local news media and through other means to help notify the community when work will begin.
- Where applicable, detours on state roads will be marked.
- Detailed information about every bridge, including anticipated construction dates, closings and marked detours, available at www.modot.mo.org/safeandsound .
- MoDOT is committed to working with citizens to schedule work during times with minimal impacts to communities, but the inconvenience of road closures may not be avoidable. Just as it is inconvenient to slow down for roadwork, it is inconvenient to take a detour for a bridge replacement, and we understand that. This program would not be affordable without road closures.
- We ask for the understanding and cooperation of the traveling public as we complete these projects as quickly as possible.
For more information, contact our Springfield District Office at 417-895-7600 or
1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636).
Last updated: April 2009.
|
