Four bridges in Benton County to be rehabbed

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission awarded an $8.9 million contract to a Columbia company to rebuild the decks of four Benton County bridges.

APAC Missouri Inc. received the contract after submitting the lowest bid, at $8.9 million, to rehabilitate four bridges on the state highway system. Funding for the bridgework comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The state Route 7 bridge over the Osage Arm of the Truman Reservoir, east of state Route KK, and the state Route 7 bridge over the Grand Arm of the Truman Reservoir, just north of Route Z, will have their decks rehabilitated to improve the driving surface. 

The same work will take place on the state Route 83 bridge over the Pomme De Terre Arm of the Truman Reservoir, north of state Route K near Whitakerville. One lane will remain open on each bridge during the work.

The contract also includes deck rehabilitation on the U.S. Highway 65 bridge over the Lake of the Ozarks, just north of state Route 83 in Warsaw. Two lanes will remain open on the bridge during construction, but they may be narrowed. 

Once work is completed on the bridge, it will be striped to include two northbound lanes and one southbound lane in an effort to increase safety and traffic flow by giving traffic on state Route 83 its own lane across the bridge, instead of merging with U.S. Highway 65 traffic before the bridge.

Bridge construction will begin this summer and is expected to conclude during the fall of 2010.