Rocheport bridge project on track to finish end of 2024

ROCHEPORT, Mo. (KMIZ)

The new Interstate 70 Rocheport Bridge is on track to be finished in December 2024.

The Missouri Department of Transportation hosted an informational meeting to show some of the recent progress of teams Saturday. Andrew Bertels, a construction inspector for MoDOT, said crews work 12-hour days and six days a week.

“This bridge should be done next spring,” Bertels said. “Then we’ll demo and then build a second bridge in place of the old. So that’s what’s going to be done 2024.”

The $240 million project first broke ground in October 2021. Back then, MoDOT rated the current bridge in "poor condition" but said it was still safe to use. According to MoDOT, the current bridge was built in 1960 connecting Boone County and Cooper County and sees about 12.5 million vehicles every year.

The new bridge will do the same and is set to expand three lanes each way.

“We’re moving along,” Bertels said. “Westbound traffic will probably be on the new bridge for about a month before both lanes of traffic get switched over.”

Cordell Lenz, a field engineer for Lunda Construction Company, said recent cold weather slowed construction since teams need to take more precautions during winter seasons. 

“We're used to the cold, we'll work through it,” Lenz said. “But it's just kind of whatever MoDOT allows us to do. We got to get unique with them and prove to them that we can actually do things.”

Lenz said crews are currently installing girders, steel support beams that give the bridge more structure. The team hopes to finish installing them by the end of this week. If the weather cooperates, there are plans to lay asphalt down on the bridge next month.

Because of recent temperatures, Bertels added that MoDOT plans to put heaters underneath the bridge to give teams some extra warmth.

“We've got a full two years left to go,” Bertels said. Lenz nodded in agreement.