The intersection at Route B and the South Interstate 70 Outer Road will be improved next spring, a project designed to help the roadway handle the weight of the numerous 18-wheelers traveling to and from the Flying J Truck Stop. The project, estimated to cost between $500,000 to $1 million, will include resurfacing Route B and a portion of the South Outer Road. Route B also will be widened south of the interchange and the existing guardrail will be removed. Bids will be opened this Friday and a contract is expected to be awarded Jan. 6, 2010. The project will require Route B and the I-70 ramps at that location to be closed at least four days and possibly up to two weeks, MoDOT officials said last week. During the work, the only access to Flying J or the Budget Inn motel will be via the South Outer Road from Jonesburg. The project also will require periodic lane closures. The existing pavement is inadequate for the daily traffic that has resulted in frequent maintenance repairs, MoDOT officials said. Thomas Batenhorst, district design engineer, said since the project is being paid for through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the work is being accelerated by at least one year. "This has been a maintenance headache," he said. "We will rebuild the (intersection) there because it continues to get torn up out there." The report on the intersection improvements and other upcoming projects was made during a gathering of MoDOT officials, area media and state legislators last Thursday, Dec. 10, at Boonslick Regional Planning Commission. Under MoDOT's Safe and Sound Bridge program, two bridges in Warren County will be improved next year through preventative maintenance efforts. Both bridges are on Highway 94 and located over Koch's Creek, just west of Route N, and over Charrette Creek near Highway 47. The cost of both projects is expected to be around $500,000. Bids will be opened Feb. 26, 2010, and be awarded the following month. The rehab will consist of deck and guardrail work, Batenhorst said. "We're trying to get good bridges in good condition so they last longer and we don't have to replace them," he said. In 2011, MoDOT plans to replace the Highway 47 bridge over Tuque Creek, a project that will cost between $1 million and $5 million. The Highway 47 bridge over Lake Creek, near the Highway 94 intersection, is scheduled to be replaced in 2014. The statewide bridge program calls for 248 bridges to be rehabbed and 554 are scheduled to be replaced by Oct. 31, 2014. Another project to be funded through stimulus money that will be completed next year is replacing sidewalks in Marthasville. A $65,000 grant will fix sidewalks along Route D and help connect the lower and higher areas of the city. Construction should be completed by the end of the summer, said Bob Manzke, MoDOT planning engineer. Officials said a preliminary design to straighten Highway 47 at Hopewell Hill has not been completed nor has a funding source been identified for the project. Northeast District Engineer Paula Gough said that funding may be allocated to fix the area - considered unsafe for motorists - somewhere in the middle of MoDOT's next 2010-1014 five-year plan. Gough also explained MoDOT's "corridor engineer concept," an approach that has led to a unified approach at maintaining I-70 and the state's other major highways. She said motorists shouldn't notice a drastic difference in mowing, patchwork and other maintenance when traveling through the different maintenance areas. Last week's meeting was attended by several MoDOT officials, state Sen. John Griesheimer and a representative from U.S. Sen. Kit Bond's office.