Historic Bridge Makes Headway

For over a year, the City of Boonville and Union Pacific have been trying to finalize ownership over the Katy Bridge, which was once on Missouri’s Top Ten Most Endangered Historic Places. “The Save the Katy Bridge Coalition” is no longer being called that, as they have rightful ownership to the bridge. That ownership was finalized Monday night at a city council meeting in Boonville.This unique bridge was in jeopardy of being completely torn down a decade ago, and now the president of the coalition, Paula Shannon said they are “bringing it back to life, and will use it for another means of transportation which would be for pedestrian use.” The bridge will not require taxpayers’ dollars, but will be costly. The estimated cost to get the bridge back up and running properly will be anywhere from $3.5 million to $4 million. Most of the funding has been provided by MoDOT and the A.A.R.P. The initial first phase will could cost about $200,000 according to the coalition. The construction of phase one will start in 2014.