Drilling should start soon on the shaft for the first pier of the new Highway 47 Missouri River bridge.The shaft for that pier (No. 5) will be drilled on the edge of the north river bank in Warren …
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Drilling should start soon on the shaft for the first pier of the new Highway 47 Missouri River bridge.The shaft for that pier (No. 5) will be drilled on the edge of the north river bank in Warren County, said Judy Wagner, MoDOT area engineer for Franklin and Jefferson counties.The main focus of the work now is on the north end, Wagner said Monday morning. “Both large cranes are in place,” she said.“In the next couple of weeks, the contractor will start drilling the first shaft,” Wagner noted.Kevin Kriete, engineer with HDR Inc., the bridge design firm, said the company is getting one or two requests a week from the contractor for cost-saving measures.At this point, the new span is about 1 percent complete.Wagner said a camera for viewing the bridge progress has been installed, and MoDOT is working to get it up and running.She said the agency will put out a news release when citizens can start viewing the bridge work online.The general contractor, Alberici Constructors Inc., was awarded a $62.9 million contract to build the new bridge to replace the existing span, which was completed in 1936.The tentative timetable calls for the new bridge to be opened for traffic by the end of 2018.The new 2,560-foot-long bridge is being built just to the west — upstream — from the existing span.The new structure is designed with two 12-foot driving lanes, two 10-foot shoulders and a 10-foot-wide biking/walking path along the west side. An overlook, where walkers and bikers can stop and view the river and cityscape, is proposed at the center bridge pier.The new bridge path will connect to the current biking/walking path along Highway 47, north of the river, which ties into the state’s Katy Trail at Dutzow, one of the longest continuous bicycle trails in the United States.The new bridge will have a 100-year life with limited maintenance and a variety of unique enhancements, including variable depth, haunched steel girders and fluted bridge piers with architectural reveals.Demolition of the old bridge and finishing touches on the project will be completed in 2019.Missouri River Bridge
