City and MoDOT discuss plans for Missouri River Bridge

At a Columbia City Council meeting Monday, Mayor Brian Treece said he, interim city manager John Glascock and the Missouri Department of Transportation discussed plans for the Interstate 70 Missouri River Bridge.

“The heavy use puts that bridge in a condition where it needs either a major rehabilitation or a replacement,” said MoDOT director Patrick McKenna.

McKenna said it would cost $18 to $20 million to rehabilitate the bridge which the department has available funds for in 2020. Replacing the bridge would cost roughly $240 million, so MoDOT is applying for a federal discretionary grant.

McKenna asked Columbia mayor Brian Treece for help from the city.

“Whether we want to make a symbolic gesture in the form of money,” Treece said, “that would show unity among the county of Boone, city of Columbia, city of Boonville, even the city of Rocheport all of whom rely on that traffic that goes through our region.”

The planned rehabilitation project would close I-70 down to one lane in both directions causing expected major traffic delays in the region.

“It would back up traffic for nearly 40 miles to Kingdom City and then 40 miles in the west toward past Boonville,” Treece said.