• Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Legislature
    • Politics / Govt
  • Sports
    • The Bill Pollock Show
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Transportation / Osage River RR bridge to finally be built (AUDIO)

Osage River RR bridge to finally be built (AUDIO)

September 1, 2011 By [email protected]

The deal is finally done to eliminate the last bottleneck on the main rail line between Kansas City and St. Louis.  The contract has all the signatures needed to build a second bridge across the Osage River, a project that at one time was a political issue between then-Governor Matt Blunt and then-Attorney General Jay Nixon. 

The 28-million dollar project will rely on more than 22-milion dollars in federal stimulus funds. The Union Pacific hopes trains are rolling across it by 2014.  The transportation department’s railroads director, Eric Curtit,  says the state and the railroad faced a September 15th deadline. He says “hot and heavy” negotiations in the last two weeks have brought the department, the UP, the Federal Railroad Administration, and other partners together on the agreement.

The bridge is a critical link in the 130-mile route that AMTRAK and freight trains run on.  The present line over the Osage River is the only single track spot, causing a bottleneck. 

The site of the new bridge is the place where Union Pacific originally wanted to put the old KATY Bridge at Boonville, a move supported by the Blunt administration but stalled by the city of Boonville and then-Attorney General Nixon.  Boonville hopes someday to find money to use the KATY bridge as a link between the city, on the south bank of the Missouri River, and the KATY trail on the north side.

 Listen to interview with Eric Curtit 3:05 .mp3

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Transportation

Subscribe to our daily newsletter


Tweets by Missourinet

Sports

Crunch time for Mizzou hoops. Eli the best at selling Tigers football (PODCAST)

Thanks for … [Read More...]

Girl hurt in crash with ex-Chiefs Coach “likely has permanent brain damage”

A girl … [Read More...]

Royals building a winner, Chiefs will look different in 2021 (PODCAST)

Thanks for … [Read More...]

Rookie scores in debut as Blues beat Ducks

Zach … [Read More...]

Chiefs GM hopeful Mahomes and his offensive tackles will be ready for training camp

Kansas … [Read More...]

More Sports

Tweets by missourisports

Archives

Opinion/Editorials

TwitterFacebook

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC