PURCELL, Mo. — Quaker Mill Bridge, west of Purcell, was closed Wednesday by the Missouri Department of Transportation because of safety issues.
Lori Marble, spokeswoman for the transportation department’s regional office in Joplin, said, “We did a routine bridge inspection and found some things we were not comfortable with. We’re bringing in a Jefferson City bridge crew to further evaluate.’’
Marble said the Jasper County Emergency Services Board and the Webb City School District were alerted about the bridge closure on Wednesday.
The closure, she said, is not connected to the recent flooding of the Spring River.
“We do routine inspections of all of our bridges. But because of its age, we do more frequent inspections of the Quaker Mill Bridge,’’ she said. “We expect the bridge crew will be here early next week.’’
The bridge, which spans 138 feet, was built in 1900.
The bridge, she said, might reopen next week but with greater weight restrictions than it has now. The bridge evaluation crew also might suggest that it remain closed.
The Route D bridge is heavily traveled, according to Gary Nelson, who heads the Jasper County Highway Department.
When high water from Spring River makes Highway O impassable south of Alba, “that was the higher road and you could still get through,” he said.
Water from Spring River was over the Quaker Mill bridge after heavy rains last week, he added.
The Quaker Mill Bridge is scheduled for repair or replacement as part of the “Safe and Sound’’ bridge program. A decision on the date for the bridge work is under consideration, said Marble.
The goal of the “Safe and Sound’’ bridge program is to improve 802 of the state’s lowest-rated bridges by 2014.
Local News
Quaker Mill Bridge closed
- Local News
-
-
Jury hears testimony in Rita Hunter trial
Attorneys on Tuesday gave two different versions of events leading to the arrest of Dolores Forste in the first day of a trial in which the California woman is suing Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator. Forste is arguing that she was the victim of malicious prosecution by Hunter when she was arrested in November 2007 after taking her mother, Emma France, home with her while France was a ward of the public administrator’s office.
-
Softball fields to get lights
Joplin’s softball players will get three fields with lights. The City Council agreed Tuesday night to an amended plan to spend $1,098,000 to build three fields and rough in a fourth after an extended discussion about whether to illuminate the fields. The council previously had discussed a plan to build the fields in stages, initially without lights, at a cost of $725,000 for three fields and a roughed-in fourth.
-
Neosho council appoints two to ethics board
The Neosho City Council on Tuesday night appointed two residents to a newly created oversight board that will investigate complaints of improper conduct or action by elected officials.
-
Webb City smoking ban heads to voters
After the City Council failed Tuesday to give preliminary approval to a citywide ban on smoking indoors in public places, Webb City voters will decide in April whether they want the city to implement the ban.
-
Diamond man faces forcible-rape charge
Investigators with the Newton County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Diamond man Tuesday afternoon in connection with an alleged rape the previous night. Sheriff’s Detective Dale Brashers said a 27-year-old woman called for emergency help at 9:39 p.m. Monday, reporting that she had been physically and sexually assaulted in Diamond.
-
Mike Pound: Religion has become everybody’s business
Bob Higgins will be the first to admit there is a lot about a lot of religions that he doesn’t understand. But there is one thing that he believes is true with the majority of people, regardless of their religious belief: They all are looking for the same thing.
-
Association to study how Kansas schools are funded
School board leaders in Kansas are studying how the state doles out education money amid growing talk of changing the existing finance formula.
-
West Nile case reported in St. Louis County
A human case of West Nile Virus has been reported in St. Louis County. Health officials said Tuesday that the 51-year-old man has recovered.
-
Former union president sentenced for bribery
A former president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay back $10,000 after pleading guilty to bribery charges.
-
DuPonts waive jury trials in both civil, criminal cases
Bench trials will now decide both a set of civil suits and a set of federal criminal charges against the former operators of an Anderson group home for the mentally disabled where nearly a dozen people perished in a fire.
- More Local News Headlines
-
