Problem areas remain around Grindstone Parkway bridge

Work to fix the Grindstone Parkway bridge over Highway 63 wrapped up this week but problems remain around the bridge.

Cracks and potholes in the road approaching the bridge remained unfilled and unsealed Thursday. One Columbia local who regularly drives across the Grindstone Parkway bridge says the road still needs work.

“It’s nice that it’s open now, but they still need to address the potholes that they didn’t fix up,” Alan Ward of Columbia said.

Grindstone Parkway and Highway 63 are both state roads. Missouri Department of Transportation engineer Mike Schupp said the road around the bridge and any repairs needed there were not part of the scope of the bridge project.

“Hopefully in the near future if we have more additional funding, we’ll be able to revamp that interchange because it is in need of some future repairs because there is a lot of capacity at that bridge,” said Schupp.

MoDOT closed the busy span in south Columbia for rehabilitation June 10. The project was expected to take 60 days but the agency announced Tuesday that the bridge had reopened. The work is part of a series of bridge projects along the Highway 63 corridor in Boone and Callaway counties.

Check back for updates to this developing story.