The Missouri Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, March 28 to discuss repairing nine bridges in Cole and Miller counties:
- Route 17 over Route 54 – built in 1972
- Route 54 westbound over Little Gravois Creek – built in 1966
- Route 54 eastbound and westbound over Wrights Creek – both built in 1972
- Route 54 eastbound and westbound over Old Tuscumbia Road – both built in 1973
- Route 54 eastbound east of Route 87 – built in 1973
- Route 54 eastbound and westbound over Business 54 – both built in 1973
The public meeting will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cole County R-5 Eugene High School, 14803 MO-17 in Eugene. The meeting facility is accessible to people with disabilities.
The goal of the project is to repair the bridges to extend their life while keeping them in good condition. The bridges will get new driving surfaces and guardrail.
The focus of the public meeting will be to discuss the closure of the Route 17 overpass bridge, but information about the other eight bridges will be available at the public meeting as well.
The repair work on the Route 17 bridge, located north of Eugene, is expected to start in the summer of 2019 and will include repairing the steel girders beneath the deck. The current plan is to close the Route 17 overpass for three weeks in the summer of 2019 to complete the repairs. The ramps to Route 54 will remain open, and traffic will be detoured to the Route AA intersection with Route 54.
The bridges on Route 54 will be completed by closing one lane of traffic at a time. Construction on these eight bridges will begin in the fall of 2018. All nine bridges are expected to be complete in the fall of 2019.
Displays and project information presented at the public meeting will be available at www.modot.org/central the day after the meeting. For more information, call toll free 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636).
###