Free bridges are available all over Missouri. Karen Daniels with MoDOT says a law requires the state to give the public the option of having bridges for free. There’s a catch – you have to dish out the dough to move them.

Leeper Bridge in Wayne County (Photo courtesy of MoDOT)

“Because we want to use federal funding to eventually replace it, that is what the project is intending to do, we have to make that bridge for use by another party,” says Daniels.

She tells Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia that historic preservation organizations are not the only ones that want the crossings.

“City parks departments, trail groups who might have something that they need to span on a trail, we’ve had a group that teaches bridge painting,” Daniels says. “People find out about this program and they just periodically look to see what we have available. Some people come back time after time after time just waiting for the perfect bridge for their purposes.”

The longest of the nine bridges being given away is the Buck O’ Neil Bridge in Kansas City, which spans more than 2,700 feet. Leeper Bridge in southeast Missouri’s Wayne County also makes the list. The structure reaches nearly 1,000 feet.

Proposals are due by next March. Click here for more information.

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