Missouri leaders celebrate finish of Interstate 70 bridge project
ROCHEPORT, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Department of Transportation cut a ribbon Tuesday marking the completion of the Lance Corporal Leon Deraps I-70 Missouri River Bridge at Rocheport.
Cooper County Fire Chief David Gehm says having the three lanes and wide shoulders going in either direction will make emergency response to the bridge much safer and quicker.
"What I like about it is there's three lanes going in both directions, but there's also wide shoulders on both sides," Gehm said. "So if we have an incident on the bridge, we can actually park on the side of the incident without having to worry about getting hit by oncoming traffic."
Gehm said the Boone County Fire Protection District and Cooper County Fire Protection District work together responding to emergencies on the bridge, but it can be a challenge getting to the emergency because of tight traffic.
"There's a lot of times they couldn't get or we couldn't get to the scene, they [Boone County] had to cover for us or they couldn't get to the scene, and we have to come backwards down the eastbound on the westbound lane," said Gehm. "That's going to all stop, we're going to be able to access the scene."
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe said the new bridge will bring reliability for drivers and first responders. Kehoe will be sworn in as governor in January.
"Reliability, the old bridge was congested and when we did have an unfortunate accident, it really backed things up and it also backed up emergency vehicles being able to get to the other side of the river," said Kehoe. "Missourians want not only a reliable transportation system, but they want a safe one and this is a prime example."
Gov. Mike Parson said the wider bridge will be safer for drivers and first responders during traffic backups.
"When you start having traffic back up, especially on I-70, I mean, really what comes into there it's bad enough for time delays, but really the safety factor becomes a huge issue there," said Parson. "Anytime you start backing traffic up on interstates is problematic, so I think to get away from that, number one, first foremost, being safer is going to make this highway a lot safer."
The newly renovated bridge will be named after Lance Corporal Leon Deraps, a Jamestown, Missouri, Marine who died in Iraq in 2006.
The ceremony was invite-only and held on the eastbound bridge near mile-marker 115. Speakers included the chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Dustin Boatwright, Parson, Kehoe and MoDOT Director Ed Hassinger.
Missouri Highways and Transportation Commissioner Dustin Boatwright said the bridge was a big investment with the I-70 corridor and it took multiple partners on the federal, state and local level to get it done.
"The local investment, we had Boone and Cooper counties that invested in this, we had the city of Columbia and the city of Boonville to make this happen," said Boatwright. "The state having the bonding capability, having the investments that the Missouri General Assembly has put forth in the last several years, have really brought to life this big investment on this I-70 corridor."
The ribbon cutting is being held before the full completion of the bridge. The state expects all east and westbound lanes to be open by the end of December.
Once complete the bridge will be six lanes across with three lanes going in each direction. Construction to replace the 60-year-old bridge began in 2021. The westbound lanes have been open since June 2023 and the eastbound lane is expected to open by the end of the month.
"Missouri is 600 miles from half of the households in this country and half of the manufacturing that we have in this country," said Boatwright. "There's 30 to 50 million tons of freight that comes across this corridor each and every year, which is incredible."
The total cost of the bridge project was $240 million and is expected to last for the next 100 years.
