The bridge was determined eligible during consultation for the Pre-1945 Common Concrete and Steel Bridges Programmatic Agreement, executed April 13, 2021. Bridge K0789 is eligible under Criterion A for its association with transportation, specifically the Grade Separation Program, and Criterion C for engineering because of the atypical railings and the atypical combination of the railings with a through girder. 

Bridge K0789 is a 5-span, 264’ 1”, 1939 through plate girder bridge. The substructure consists of one full height, reinforced-concrete, open abutment with three columns connected by haunched tie beams on the southeast end. On the northeast end is a closed, full height abutment that is earth-filled. The superstructure includes a main span, Span 2, of a plate girder. The plate girder is 6’ 6” tall with 3’ 8” above the top of the deck. The plates are various sizes riveted together with splices approximately every 10’. The entire girder is 75’ 4” long with floor beams every 11’.

In July 1938, Clifford Shoemaker, the District Engineer for the Bureau of Public Roads, was concerned the overhead crossing of the railroad was at the wrong location. Case No. 9752 before the Public Service Commission of the State of Missouri ordered the Missouri State Highway Commission and the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company permission to construct an overhead crossing on Missouri State Highway Route S-H in Willow Springs, Missouri. The contractor for the project (FAGM 2-D (1)) was Carte-Harlin Construction Company of West Plains, Missouri getting the bid for $44,360.99. The structure is described as 3 – 45’ and 1-40’ I-beam and 1- 75’ plate girder span supported on concrete bents, piers and abutments. The structure will have a 24’ roadway with a 5’ sidewalk on one side. The galvanized railing was made by the Missouri Rolling Mill Corporation. The welder on the project was Mr. H. H. Moore of the Reynolds Manufacturing Company in Springfield, Missouri. 

Dedication services were sponsored by the Willow Springs Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, August 15, 1940 with a reception at the Horton Hotel. 

MoDOT’s Historic Preservation Section is now accepting proposals for the relocation and reuse of the bridge or its components until September 15, 2026. A proposal checklist is available MoDOT’s Free Bridges website (http://www.modot.org/freebridges/). Preservation covenants may accompany the bridge.