Overpass project remains on track

By Theo Tate
Posted 1/26/23

Work has started on the new Missouri Route 19 Bridge that is located over Interstate 70 at New Florence.

The $10 million project is currently in its first of six stages of construction. Missouri …

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Overpass project remains on track

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Work has started on the new Missouri Route 19 Bridge that is located over Interstate 70 at New Florence.

The $10 million project is currently in its first of six stages of construction. Missouri Department of Transportation Area Engineer Jeff Niemeyer said work on the bridge will be finished around May 2024, when the old bridge will be removed.

“It’s going pretty well,” Niemeyer said. “I know they’ve been working on dirt work out there. It’s a little rainy and it kind of slowed us down on dirt work. But we’ve been driving piles on end vents on each side. We’re planning on getting out into the median to do that piling in the center of I-70 for the next couple of weeks.”

The new bridge will be located west of the existing bridge. There will also be two oval roundabouts built, one on each end of the interchange. The roundabouts are 172 feet by 212 feet with an 18-foot truck apron.

“The main thing we’re working on is the bridge,” Niemeyer said. “Luckily, that is being built last, so it’s not really affecting traffic too much. We’re able to build the whole structure without impeding too much traffic.”

Niemeyer said he hopes the workers will finish stage one by April.

“That’s when you’ll really see us start going into stage two and three,” Niemeyer said. “That’s when you’ll start seeing more closures and more impacts to traffic.”

Roundabouts will be constructed in stage two. North and South Outer Roads to the west of Highway 19 will be closed. Anyone who wants to go to businesses such as McDonald’s, the Shell gas station and America’s Best Value Inn can drive to the newly constructed Clark Drive.

In stage three, which will begin this summer, there will be detours in the eastbound I-70 off-ramp and the westbound I-70 on-ramp. A portion of Highway 19 south of the interchange will be closed.

Niemeyer said he hopes for the weather to cooperate for the rest of the winter. Construction was slowed down due a major winter storm that hit the area in late December.

“If it keeps raining, it will be too muddy to get in there and do a lot,” Niemeyer said. “We have to wait for Mother Nature to help us out a little bit.”

Construction on the bridge began in October. Construction signs were built about a half of a mile north of the interchange.

“We got a lot of work done there,” Niemeyer said. “Whenever you’re working through the wintertime, you can take any days you can get. I felt like we had a pretty dry fall to really get a head start on the project, for sure.”

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