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I-70 bridge ribbon-cutting ceremony set for Tuesday; bridge opening later this month

Construction continues Wednesday on the new Interstate 70 bridge over the Missouri River at Rocheport. The old bridge last underwent repairs in 2017 before it was demolished in 2023 to make way for the new bridge.
Alex Buchanan/Missourian
Construction continues Wednesday on the new Interstate 70 bridge over the Missouri River at Rocheport. The old bridge last underwent repairs in 2017 before it was demolished in 2023 to make way for the new bridge.

Explosions rang out over the Missouri River in September 2023 when the old Rocheport bridge on I-70 was demolished.

Explosions rang out over the Missouri River in September 2023 when the old Rocheport bridge on I-70 was demolished. Fifteen months later, the new I-70 bridge in Columbia is nearly ready for traffic. The bridge is scheduled to fully open to the public later this month, with a ribbon ceremony set for Tuesday.

The ceremony was scheduled to accommodate Gov. Mike Parson’s availability, allowing him to commemorate the near-opening of the second of two new bridges, this one serving eastbound I-70 traffic.

If all goes as scheduled, the completion will mean the Missouri Department of Transportation will meet its goal of having both bridges open by the end of 2024 while remaining within the $220 million budget.

The crossing over the Missouri River carries anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 cars per day, so a strong bridge is required.

The project was announced and entered the planning stages in 2019, as the steel structure for the previous Rocheport bridge neared the end of its projected life.

The old bridge, which opened in 1960, had already undergone a roughly $30 million rehabilitation in 1993, which was meant to buy it another 10 to 15 years of life. After that, it was time for something new.

Instead of the single, four-lane bridge that had previously crossed the Missouri River, the new project involved construction of two bridges, one eastbound and one westbound, each capable of carrying three lanes of traffic.

Construction began in early 2022. That November, a switch in project management propelled Central District Construction Materials Engineer Mike Schupp into the role of project manager.

“It dwarfs any other project that I’ve done in my 30-year career. I really enjoyed it,” Schupp said. “It’s not very often you get to do a project that lasts for several construction seasons.”

Schupp graduated from the University of Missouri in 1994 and started working for MoDOT right out of the gate. At MoDOT he has worn a multitude of hats, working in design and construction, as well as working as an area engineer. Before becoming the Central District construction materials engineer, he met with communities in Boone and Cooper counties, searching for support for the bridge project.

The shift in management came after the previous director, Brandi Baldwin, accepted a position as the state construction and materials engineer.

The westbound bridge was built north of the old bridge and opened for traffic serving both directions in July 2023. It was then that the project got more explosive.

Missourians tuned into live streams while crowds gathered along the banks of the river in September to say goodbye to the old bridge and watch it go out with a bang.

“It’s pretty neat, you know?” Schupp said. “It takes you several years to build something, and it takes you 30 seconds to blow it up.”

After the boom, though, came the scramble. Schupp said the permits required that the riverbed be 100% clear of debris within a 24- to 48-hour period to reopen the waterway for barge traffic. While they did take three days, instead of the allotted two, Schupp was thankful for the patience from the barge companies.

“It’s really nice in the fact that those folks that work on the river, day in and day out,” Schupp said, “they all know each other, and they all communicate.”

The team then began construction of the second bid, and after about a year, the final girder was placed. Since then, the construction team has been working to ensure the eastbound bridge is ready to carry traffic.

Like all major construction projects, the Rocheport bridge came with some problems.

The first two years of construction took place during a fairly dry period for the area. Because of this, the Missouri River was shallower than anticipated, meaning barges had to unload materials in order to float or materials had to be dredged in the river in some cases.

However, with the end of spring this year, the opposite became the problem when flooding halted progress on the project for several weeks.

Temperature also affects progress. Schupp said asphalt can be laid only when temperatures are above 40 degrees, meaning usually progress in that regard begins after April.

Otherwise, though, the project continued smoothly and on schedule.

This marked the first project in Missouri for Wisconsin-based Lunda Construction, the main contractor for the project. The company has previously built a wide range of bridges and highway overpasses where they cross the Mississippi River and bustling Minneapolis highways.

“We’ve got a really great work relationship between MoDOT and Lunda,” Schupp said. “I look forward to working with those guys in the future.”

The workers have been chipping away since the beginning, working six days a week on a regular week and all seven days when the project was running behind. A majority of the work was done during the day, but if work was expected to disrupt traffic flow, it was done during the night.

This project will conclude as the state begins the massive I-70 expansion project, which aims to upgrade the highway between Kansas City and St. Louis from four lanes to six.

While traffic is slated to open on both bridges later this month, there is still a small bit of work to be done.

Come spring, Lunda will lay a final lift of asphalt and paint fresh road stripes, as well as finish the last bits of construction and river cleanup.

The bridges are named in memory of Lance Cpl. Leon Deraps, a U.S. Marine from the small town of Jamestown, who gave his life during the Iraq War.

Copyright 2024 KBIA

The Columbia Missourian