By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Seventy-three of the worst bridges in Southwest Missouri will see major rehabilitation in the next five years.

Those bridges are among 802 statewide that have been identified for improvement by the Missouri Department of Transportation under the Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement Program. At least one bridge in every county will be affected.

An initial proposal to use private financing was jettisoned when it became apparent that approach was too expensive for MoDOT’s budget and the financial markets were in too much turmoil, so last week the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission decided to issue bonds to cover the project with annual payments of about $50 million. Even with finance charges, it’s estimated that MoDOT’s new plan will be $300 million to $500 million cheaper than private-sector financing.

Using the private sector, MoDOT would have been required to make annual payments that would have ranged from $65 million to $74 million, depending on interest rates, according to Pete Rahn, director of MoDOT.

“At a time when we are faced with declining revenues and increasing costs, the commission was concerned we might not be able to honor our commitments in MoDOT’s five-year construction program if we went forward at a price over our budget,” said Rahn. “Keeping our promises is the commission’s absolute top priority.”

First up

The project will start early next year with 100 bridges, including 10 in Southwest Missouri. Some of the so-called “quick-start’’ bridges are in Dade, Jasper, Lawrence Newton and Vernon counties.

All of the bridges that will be rehabilitated in the next five years will be identified with signs by Oct. 31. Among those are six heavily-traveled bridges on U.S. Highway 71, north of Joplin, in Vernon, Barton and Jasper counties.

Becky Baltz, district engineer for MoDOT’s District 7 in Southwest Missouri, said, “The bridges were chosen based on ratings resulting from inspections. We primarily focused on the most worn bridges; those needing repairs on a regular basis. Much of the early bridge work will be on bridges needing new decks. The replacement bridges will be addressed later in the project.

“We’re very excited to get 73 of our worst bridges replaced or improved in the next five years. In the past, only 1 to 3 bridges were addressed per year in District 7.”

The district covers 11 counties in Southwest Missouri.

The Missouri Department of Transportation will manage the Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program differently than the “design, build, finance and maintain’’ contract that was envisioned with private funding.

There will be 554 bridge replacements included in a single, design-build package to be advertised this fall and awarded in late spring 2009. The remaining 248 bridges to be improved will be contracted using a modified design-bid-build approach, where projects are grouped by type, size or location to accelerate construction schedules.