ST. LOUIS — A massive project to renovate a railroad bridge over the Mississippi River hit a major milestone Friday afternoon. The first of three new sections of the Merchants Bridge was hoisted into place.
"Today's freight and going into the future is going to be heavier, bigger, faster," explained Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis Chief Engineer Eric Fields. "We had to decide, are we just going to maintain that bridge until it becomes obsolete or are we going to replace it and make it a serviceable bridge well into the future?"
The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis decided on total replacement. $222 million in financing later and Field can't believe he is watching the first span go up.
"To replace something like this is really once in a lifetime," he said.
Merchants Bridge spans the river on the north side of the City of St. Louis to Venice, Illinois. MODOT says it is the sixth busiest freight rail Mississippi River crossing. It was constructed in 1890.
The 9-million pound truss is one of three that will be needed to cross the river. It was floated onto the river and then lifted by cranes into position.
Mary Lamie is the Executive Vice President of Multi Modal Enterprises. She organizes the freight development committee for the bi-state.
"What this project means is improved transportation costs for manufacturing logistics companies not only for our region but for the nation," Lamie said.
The new bridge will be a two-track allowing double capacity and fewer delays. Fields says this is crucial for moving America forward.
"To be competitive as a nation we have to have infrastructure that is reliable and efficient. We can't have breakdowns. We can't have outages. We have to move freight from ports on the west coast to the east coast into the Midwest and connect this country."