By Bill Raack, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – State transportation officials have changed their minds about the westbound span of the 75 year-old Daniel Boone Bridge over the Missouri River -- it has to go.
Originally, MODot planned to leave the existing bridge as an outer road with a bike lane. But spokesman Drew Gates says it is deteriorating and will probably have to be torn down.
"Our plan is to construct a new eastbound bridge and move traffic to that eastbound bridge and of course the current eastbound bridge which will become the westbound bridge and then take out the existing westbound bridge, the three lane one that's up there now, the old one that was built in the 1930's," Gates said.
He said there's no funding available for the Boone Bridge project yet but MODot is drafting a plan to be ready for when there IS money to pay for it.
"With a lot of the projects that were funded using the economic recovery money, this has significantly moved up in the lineup of things that we need to be at least working on and focusing our attention on over the next few years," Gates said.
MODot will hold a public meeting about the Boone Bridge plan next Tuesday, May 11, at the August Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles.