CANTON, MO. -- Under the Safe and Sound bridge program in Missouri, more then 800 bridges across the Show Me State have either been replaced or repaired.
And on Thursday, the Missouri Department of Transportation cut the ribbon on another bridge that was part of the statewide program.
So when you take a drive on Missouri highway 16 between Canton and Monticello, you'll be crossing that newly constructed bridge at Sugar Creek.
Under the MoDOT plan, 800 bridges made the list to either be repaired or replaced and this one made list for the Northeast District.
"And we use those inspections and ratings to prioritize the list. And when we came up with the Safe and Sound Bridge program we looked at that list and looked at what bridges would fit into that program well, which bridges were on routes that we could close the route and accomplish the bridge replacement very quickly," Amy Crawford, MODOT area engineer said.
The bridge that was replaced was 87-years-old. Because the contractor was able to shut the highway down completely to work on the project, it only took them 49 days to complete. Craig Redmon is a state legislator from Lewis County and his family used the highway everyday to get back forth to work. He says he's glad to see the highway reopened.
"My whole family, we travel across that bridge to Monticello twice a day. My daughter works in Monticello and my wife and I run a postal route and I cross it. So it's eight times in one day that we crossed it. It was a hazard. It served its purpose and we were glad to have it. But this new bridge is just phenomenal," Redmon said.
At least 80 bridges in the Northeast Missouri district are on the list to be part of the Safe and Sound bridge program. MoDOT said there's only six bridges left to replace before the project in their area is completed.
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