In 2006, Missouri transportation officials announced that 802 state bridges would be repaired or replaced within five years. Two years later, the project has not started.
This June, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission requested that design work start on the project, even though a final contract has not yet been signed. Painstaking contract negotiations, as well as a volatile credit industry, are to blame for the delay.
Since the end of 2007, the Missouri highway commission has been negotiating a 30-year contract to do the bridge work with a joint venture called Missouri Bridge Partners. After repairing or rebuilding the bridges, the group would be responsible for maintaining their good condition for 25 years.
The program is projected to cost upwards of $600 million. The final amount will depend on interest rates at the time the contract is approved, said Pete Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation.
To finalize the contract, Missouri Bridge Partners must obtain low-interest credit. Contract language calls for the state to make interest-only payments on that debt when certain milestones are hit—for example, when work is finished on the first 150 bridges. The full payment for construction would come once repairs and reconstruction are finished, Rahn said.
MoDOT would make annual payments to the partnership for maintenance, funded by annual federal bridge replacement funds.
All 802 bridges are still safe for driving. “We’re not going to leave a bridge open if it’s unsafe,” said Highway Commissioner Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City.
However, Commissioner Jim Anderson of Springfield said, "We really are reaching a critical path. This cannot go on much longer. It will fall apart on its own."
