Your source for Missouri News and Sports
Governor Mike Parson, surrounded by local, state and national legislators, announced the success of his plan to replace 250 bridges around Missouri– including the $238 million 1-70 Rocheport Bridge.
On a bluff overlooking the bridge and the Missouri River, Sen. Roy Blunt joined the governor in explaining the work it took to get the money needed.
A creatively engineered funding plan of federal, state, local and borrowing has assured that a critical bridge in Missouri will be replaced, instead of repaired. This summer, the Missouri Department of Transportation got $81 million of a federal infrastructure (INFRA) grant, plus the promise of state funding to borrow what it needs to keep traffic flowing over the Missouri River on I-70.
The money will also be used to build climbing lanes on I-70 at what’s known as Mineola Hill in Montgomery County, in the Loutre River valley. “Mineola Hill impacts the national freight network every day,” says MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna.
“The combination of the two created a very strong application and the USDOT recognized that. But that did not provide all of the source of funding for the bridge,” he adds. “We had about a $106 million gap to close. We’ve been working very closely with the highway commission to fill that gap. We’re going to do that through cost-share and the infrastructure bank and we’re really pleased with the way that’s all coming together.”
The Legislature approved $351.0 million for replacement and repair of bridges, including $50 million one-time General Revenue and $301.0 million from bonding, which was contingent upon the award of the federal INFRA Grant.
MoDOT map shows where traffic flows within 48 hours of crossing the I-70 bridge near Rocheport. About 12 million vehicles cross the bridge each year.
A west-central Missouri congresswoman is praising an $81 million federal grant to replace the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge, saying it’s a prime example of communities and tax dollars working together to address a critical need.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) crews work on the I-70 Rocheport bridge (2019 file photo courtesy of MoDOT)
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, whose district includes Rocheport, says the bridge is vital for motorists, truckers and farmers.
“This bridge is a corridor that connects the east and the west coasts of this country and certainly it connects St. Louis and Kansas City, population five million,” Hartzler says.
Hartzler tells Missourinet she met personally with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao about the project’s importance.
The Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest general farm organization, says the federal grant is critical, saying the I-70 corridor is “badly in need of repair.” Hartzler, who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, tells Missourinet more than 12 million vehicles cross the bridge annually, including three million trucks.
“And that equals to about 100 million tons of freight, which equals more than $154 billion annually so many trucks,” says Hartzler.
Rocheport is just west of Columbia. Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says I-70 is critical to shipping Missouri’s agricultural goods to buyers across the world.
The current bridge is 59 years old, and the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says it’s in poor condition.
As for Congresswoman Hartzler, she emphasizes that the successful effort to land the grant was a bipartisan effort. Hartzler says U.S. Reps. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, signed her letter backing the project.
“We stood up together as a Missouri (congressional) delegation and said this is important not only just for the fourth district but for the entire state of Missouri,” Hartzler says.
The grant will allow the existing bridge to be used during construction of the new six-lane bridge, avoiding projected three to eight-hour backups under a bridge rehabilitation.
While MoDOT will have to provide additional funding for the project, Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet the state “will come up with the funds.”
Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, which was recorded on July 22, 2019:
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has received an $81 million federal grant to replace the aging I-70 bridge in mid-Missouri’s Rocheport, a bridge that carries millions of vehicles annually.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) crews work on the I-70 Rocheport bridge (2019 file photo courtesy of MoDOT)
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and Governor Mike Parson made the announcement Monday afternoon.
Parson says the funding will allow the existing bridge to be used during construction of the new bridge. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet motorists would have faced three to eight-hour backups without the grant, under a bridge rehabilitation.
“When you put the commerce that goes across I-70 basically in those types of traffic jams, you know seven, eight-hour traffic jams, the reality of what that really costs at the end of the day is astronomical,” Schatz says.
MoDOT says the 59-year-old bridge is in poor condition. The agency says more than 12 million vehicles cross the bridge annually. Pro Tem Schatz notes more than three million trucks cross it.
“Within 48 hours, there are trucks that are traveling across that bridge that are ending up somewhere within the lower 48 states in the United States,” says Schatz.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, agrees with Schatz, saying the new bridge will connect America’s east and west coasts. Hartzler’s sprawling district includes Rocheport.
The successful effort to land the $81 million grant has the strong, bipartisan support of Missouri’s congressional delegation. Hartzler tells Missourinet that U.S. Reps. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, signed her letter in support of the project.
In Jefferson City, Pro Tem Schatz says the bipartisanship highlights the project’s importance.
“I think Senator Blunt, Senator (Josh) Hawley, going to bat for Missouri obviously making the case for how critical this is to our state, not only to our state but to the economy in general across the whole country,” Schatz says.
Governor Parson says the grant will allow the $240 million project to build a new six-lane I-70 Rocheport bridge near the current one, as well as reconstructing the nearby Route BB interchange. The governor expects construction of the new bridge to begin in 2021.
The grant will also mean $301 million in state bonding that is expected to repair or replace another 215 bridges across the state. Schatz sponsored that provision in the Senate.
Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on July 22, 2019:
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
State transportation officials will hold an informational meeting Thursday afternoon in mid-Missouri’s Rocheport about the upcoming massive I-70 bridge rehabilitation project.
Crews make repairs on the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge (2018 file photo courtesy of MoDOT’s Sally Oxenhandler}
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) project manager Melissa Wilbers says three to eight-hour backups are possible, when the project starts in the spring.
“And we have actually seen those types of delays in our inspection that we had done earlier this year,” Wilbers says.
Wilbers tells Missourinet there were nine-mile backups on the bridge this summer, when MoDOT did expansion joint replacement work.
MoDOT says the 59-year-old bridge is in poor condition.
Wilbers says the current plan is to begin construction in the spring, with an expected completion date in late 2020. She says the planned $18 million rehabilitation will extend the bridge’s life for another 10 to 15 years.
“Driving surface sealing, expansion joint replacement, some painting, structural steel repairs and some substructure repairs as well,” says Wilbers.
MoDOT will hold today’s meeting from 4-6 at Rocheport’s Les Bourgeois. It’s an open house, which means there will not be a formal presentation.
Displays will be set up, and MoDOT representatives will be available to answer your questions.
Meantime, MoDOT says more than 12 million vehicles cross that bridge annually, including three million trucks. Wilbers says MoDOT is still hopeful of receiving a $176 million federal grant.
“We applied for the federal INFRA grant in March earlier this year, and we are waiting on word from the federal government whether we are going to receive those funds or not,” Wilbers says.
INFRA stands for a federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant.
If the grant goes through, Wilbers tells Missourinet MoDOT would build a new bridge instead of the rehabilitation project, which means the old bridge would be used while a new one is built.
That would prevent the massive I-70 backups.
Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, tells Missourinet he’s hopeful about the grant. Schatz says U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt is working to obtain the federal grant funding.
Missourians rejected a proposed ten-cent gasoline tax increase in November. Missouri’s 17-cent gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996.
Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with MoDOT project manager Melissa Wilbers, which was recorded on July 17, 2019:
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Missouri’s governor has signed a $29.7 billion state operating budget, which takes effect on Monday. It includes $301 million in bridge bonding funding, contingent upon the awarding of a federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant.
A crew member inspects the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge in mid-Missouri (2018 file photo courtesy of MoDOT’s Sally Oxenhandler)
The bridge bonding measure is a top priority for Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, who sponsored the legislation. He tells Missourinet that U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) is now working to obtain federal grant funding for a new I-70 bridge in mid-Missouri’s Rocheport.
“The effects it’s going to have on commerce and traffic and people and the ancillary roads that are going to be affected by the traffic that goes to them, it’s extremely important,” Schatz says.
State Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Director Patrick McKenna has warned that rehabilitation of the bridge will cause three to eight-hour backups, including 25-mile backups to Kingdom City “on a bad day.”
“Now it’s up to Senator Blunt to go to work for us, go to bat for Missouri and try to bring home some of that grant funding that will help us get that Rocheport bridge done,” says Schatz.
MoDOT says it would cost about $200 million to replace the bridge, which was built in 1960. The bridge is more than 3,000 feet long.
Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Matt McCormick has described I-70 as a focal point of business, as well as moving goods and services across the nation.
Meantime, Pro Tem Schatz is disappointed lawmakers didn’t approve prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation this year. He’s already looking ahead to 2020.
Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) visits the House chamber on May 17, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
“But I will tell you that we will come back next year and I have three more years in this chamber (Missouri Senate). And I will work every year until we get that thing accomplished,” Schatz says.
Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state.
The House approved PDMP legislation from State Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, by a 103-53 vote in February but the bill died in the Senate, primarily because of opposition from the Senate Conservative Caucus.
Senator Blunt has also called on lawmakers to pass PDMP, saying drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in Missouri and the nation.
Blunt addressed the Missouri House in Jefferson City in April, noting that firefighters in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights tell him they’re ten times as likely to respond to a drug overdose as a fire.
Overall, Schatz says the 2019 session was successful, also citing passage of anti-abortion legislation and a bill aimed at attracting a $1 billion expansion at the sprawling General Motors (GM) plant in eastern Missouri’s Wentzville.
Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full three-minute interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on May 17, 2019 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City:
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet