Missouri River bridge work to wrap up this weekend

After more than 6 months of work, a key piece of infrastructure is scheduled to reopen.

The Missouri River bridge that supports highway 50/63 in Jefferson City underwent sweeping maintenance work over the summer to mitigate the natural decay of more than 60 years.

Reopening the bridge to traffic will begin after rush hour Friday, and crews expect to take most of the weekend to complete the work.

Once the westbound bridge is open, work will switch to the eastbound bridge, where the concrete barrier separating traffic will be removed, along with the pavement striping.

The bridge was closed in early May and was scheduled for a 120-day closure. However after workers started blasting away the old paint, they found that a larger number of deteriorated rivets needed to be replaced, MoDOT said.

Workers for contractor Cekra said drivers should plan some extra time over the weekend to account for the lane changes.