By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
SENECA, Mo. — The city of Seneca will assume expenses for repairing a historic footbridge over Lost Creek on Main Street, even though the state of Missouri owns the rights to the walkway.
Doyle Shields, police chief and public works director, said the walkway on the west side of the creek has been closed for about four months because of structural problems.
“We’re going to pull it out for repairs,” he said.
Pedestrians now have to walk in the street to continue north on Main Street, Shields said.
Engineers inspected the footbridge and determined that the I-beams underneath were damaged.
The bridge is expected to be pulled next week and taken to Seneca Steel for repairs.
Shields said the improved — and safe — footbridge should be reinstalled by mid-October.
“This is a heavily traveled bridge,” he said.
Some people even fish from the bridge, Shields said. “It’s a nice little spot,” he said.
Jim Conley, Missouri Department of Transportation construction materials engineer, said the state is deeding both footbridges across Lost Creek to the city.
“Right now, the state owns those rights of way and the bridges, but we’ve looked back several years and can’t find anything, so they decided to keep access,” he said.
The bridges in the town are on a list of 554 bridges statewide that are to be replaced by Dec. 31, 2013, Conley said.
City officials decided to the close the footbridge on the west side of the creek for safety reasons.
“We didn’t want to take any chances that someone would get hurt,” Mayor Gary Roark said.
Once the footbridge is reinforced, it will be installed at the same location, Roark said.
“There’s a lot of history to those bridges,” he said.
For Nikki Edwards, owner of Envee Studio Hair Salon and Boutique, the closure has resulted in the loss of some foot traffic.
“It’s not affected me that much, but you have to walk in the street to get anywhere,” she said. “It’s a pain.”
The state is expected to replace the roadway bridge and add sidewalks, but the city wants to retain the footbridges.
Cost and labor
The city will pay the estimated $4,000 to $5,000 cost for materials, and Seneca Steel is providing volunteer labor.
