Work on a new railroad overpass on Highway 19 in Montgomery County is slated to start within the next few weeks, MoDOT officials said.Lehman Construction is the contractor for the project.According to MoDOT Area Engineer Erik Maninga, drivers along Highway 19 should experience little inconvenience throughout much of the project, due to the way construction will be phased.“When this project is done, drivers will actually be going over the railroad instead of under it, like they do today,” he added.The overpass will be constructed just to the west of the existing underpass.Mitchell Road, a county road just south of the existing underpass on the west side of Highway 19, will close for up to two days later this summer to make a connection to the new section of highway. Next year, Route WW, also just south of the existing underpass but on the east side of Highway 19, will close for up to a week to be tied into the new highway.“There will be some one-lane conditions where drivers will have to slow down or stop for flaggers,” Maninga explained.When completed, the overpass will be 36 feet wide to include 12-foot driving lanes and shoulders.“The funding for this project was a collaborative effort between MoDOT and Boonslick Regional Planning Commission who applied for and received a $2.25 million grant from the Department of Economic Development,” explained Maninga.The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2016 at a cost of $5,658,547.A video showing drivers what the new overpass and road alignment will look like is available at www.modot.org/northeast/major_projects/montgomery.htm.To receive updates on the Highway 19 railroad overpass project, go to http://www.modot.org/ to sign up for emails and text alerts under the traveler’s tab.MoDOT