With the opening of the Route A bridge over Whitewater River in Cape Girardeau County, the Missouri Department of Transportation said it has completed the Bootheel Bridge Bundle program.
The $21 million program included 17 design-build bridge improvement projects, 13 of which were also part of Gov. Mike Parson’s Focus on Bridges program to repair or replace 250 bridges across the state.
“The Bootheel Bridge Bundle was the first design-build project in MoDOT’s Southeast District,” MoDOT Project Director Benji Philpot said. “Design-build projects combine both the design and construction phases into one contract.”
The benefit of design-build projects, Philpot said, was time savings.
“One of our goals was to have the improvements completed no later than Dec. 31, 2023,” he said. “The project team exceeded that expectation by completing this project two months ahead of schedule.”
The goals of the project were to deliver the bridges within the program’s $25.5 million budget on or before the end of the year, use innovation to maximize the number of locations the project would address while providing quality structures, minimize public inconvenience and improve safety at each location.
The project included Route B over I-57 in Mississippi County, Route 67 over Route 8 and Route NN over Indian Creek in St. Francois County, and Route A over the Whitewater River in Cape Girardeau County.