ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Department of Transportation and a contractor working on a bridge project on Interstate 55 have come to an agreement on how to fix damage to a bridge first reported late last year.
MoDOT and KCI Construction announced the formal agreement on Monday. Under the agreement, KCI will replace the girders and the bearings on the Union Pacific Railroad bridge just south of Loughborough Avenue.
Under the agreement, KCI is responsible for all of the costs of the work.
In November, MoDOT announced that the bridge's existing girders were damaged during the project. The original project was to remove the driving surface and replace it, using the existing steel girder below.
KCI Construction used a breaking hammer to demolish the driving surface, MoDOT engineers said. While common and usually effective, in this circumstance, the breaking hammer broke through more than just the driving surface.
"Bridge engineers have determined that most of these girders over the Union Pacific railroad were damaged too severely to be repaired," MoDOT Assistant District Engineer for St. Louis Tom Evers said in a November press conference.
In addition to the Union Pacific Railroad bridge work, KCI will also pay for an additional crossover south of the bridge so crews can complete work on the southbound I-55 bridge over River Des Peres.
MODOT had previously hired KCI Construction for numerous projects. KCI has reportedly used the same breaking hammer method on five other bridges. MoDOT engineers have verified that similar damage has not happened on the other bridges.
The bridge work is expected to last until fall of 2025 with the resurfacing work continuing into 2026.
For more information about the project, click here.
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