Hwy. 79 will temporarily close to traffic this summer to replace two bridges, the Little Calumet Creek Bridge and the Lost Creek Bridge at the south city limits of Elsberry.
The Little Calumet Creek Bridge is just south of the Village of the Blue Rose driveway, midway between Clarksville and Louisiana.
“We haven’t met with the contractor yet, so we don’t know the schedule,” said MoDOT District Community Relations Manager Marisa Ellison. “We’ll be deciding after the pre-construction meeting later this month.”
The contract for both bridges was awarded to R. V. Wagner, Inc. of St. Louis for $1.7 million
The 78-year-old Little Calumet Creek Bridge will be replaced sometime this summer with a new, 32-foot- wide bridge with 11- foot lanes and five-foot shoulders. The bridge replacement should take approximately 45 working days.
The 75-year-old Lost Creek Bridge will be replaced with a new 32- -foot-wide bridge with 12-foot lanes and four-foot shoulders.
The bridge replacement should take approximately 25 working days and will not close for construction until after Monday, July 15.
The bridges will not be closed simultaneously, however construction of both bridges is expected to be completed by Oct. 1.
MoDOT will send out road closure and detour information prior to the projects beginning and road closure signs will be in place notifying motorists of the work.
Some areas of the road will remain open to residential traffic only; all other traffic must take alternate routes during this time.
The Hwy. 79 bridges are being rebuilt with funds in MoDOT’s five-year maintenance and replacement program, Ellison said.
Other projects
completed
Despite decreased funding from fuels sales taxes in recent years, MoDOT has been able to replace a number of Pike County bridges. They were replaced under MoDOT’s now-completed Safe and Sound Bridge Program.
Some of those bridges included the Hwy. 54 bridges over Noix Creek near Louisiana and Little Noix Creek near Bowling Green.
The other bridges were replaced in southern Pike County.
The one-lane bridge on Hwy. D just south of Calumet was expanded to two lanes.
Another on Hwy. W just north of Paynesville was replaced and widened, as was the bridge on Hwy. WW just east of Clopton High School.
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