Alberici Constructors Inc., the general contractor on the new Highway 47 Missouri River bridge project will start work a week later than originally planned.The start date for the major construction project will be Monday, Aug. 15, Judy Wagner, MoDOT area engineer, said this week. Alberici originally planned to begin preliminary site work Monday, Aug. 8. Wagner said the start date was pushed back due to the amount of paperwork and forms involved.A groundbreaking ceremony for the new bridge, which spans the Missouri River between Warren and Franklin counties, is still on for Friday, Aug. 12, Wagner told members of the Washington Area Highway Transportation Committee this week.Details for the 10 a.m. ceremony are still being finalized, Wagner said. But it will feature several state and local officials as speakers, she said. Two members of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna and MoDOT CFO Roberta Broeker are among state officials scheduled to attend, Wagner said. The program will be held on Washington’s Rotary Riverfront Trail under the current bridge. Washington Mayor Sandy Lucy said there will be a band and a color guard. Attendees will meet at Rennick Riverfront Park and ride shuttles to the site, the mayor said.Wagner said a meeting with the contractor was planned for Wednesday at the Washington City Hall to go over plans for access to the construction site and an office location. Whatever is decided, it will not involve utilizing the parking lot at the riverfront park, Jim Briggs, Washington city administrator, remarked at Monday’s meeting. In June, the state commission awarded the bridge contract to Alberici on a bid of $62,950,000.Work continues on possible value engineering options with an eye toward reducing the total cost of the project. Wagner said during recent meeting, MoDOT and Alberici reviewed 85 options for cost-cutting measures.“We’re shooting to save $1 million but we don’t know if that’s possible,” Wagner remarked.The ProjectThe first work residents will see will be clearing work and development of staging areas, followed by drilling work in the river for new piers.The project calls for a new 2,560-foot-long bridge to be built just to the west — upstream — from the existing span which was completed in 1936.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 a biking/walking path along Highway 47, which ties into the state’s Katy Trail, one of the longest continuous bicycle trails in the United States.The new bridge, designed by HDR, Inc., 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.The new bridge is scheduled to be open to traffic by November 2018.Demolition of the old bridge and finishing touches on the project will be completed in 2019.Missouri River Bridge