Tagged: Eads Bridge

Rehabilitation of the 138-year-old Eads Bridge is moving forward after two years of delays and ballooning project costs.

The project was to begin in 2009 with $24 million in federal stimulus funding, but labor disputes between contractors and unions, and the project’s pricetag, which inflated to $36 million, kept the bridgework from getting started.

John Nations, Metro’s President and CEO says the bridge’s age also made the bidding process difficult. 

Eads Bridge over budget, behind schedule

Elected officials from Missouri and Illinois will gather tomorrow at the Eads Bridge to break ground on a $36 million rehabilitation project for the 138-year-old structure.

But the St. Louis Post-Dispatch finds that the federally-funded  project is over budget and behind schedule.

St. Louis police have identified a man who died after falling from a Mississippi River bridge.

Police say the victim was 68-year-old Reed Highfield of Lebanon, Ill. He fell from the Eads Bridge shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday. It wasn't clear what caused the fall but it is not considered suspicious.

Rescue crews found Highfield close to the bank on the Missouri side and pulled him to shore. He was pronounced dead at the scene.