Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
July 19, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The third update’s the charm.

The re-opening of the US-24 bridge has been pushed back again, this time to mid-August. US-24 is closed between Manchester Trafficway and Ewing Avenue for bridge deck replacement over the Blue River. The original completion date was scheduled for Monday, June 16. Traffic will continue to detour to I-435, to Truman Road and to Hardesty during the closure. The work also included replacing the expansion joints on the Route 24 bridge over the railroad tracks just west of the Blue River. In a Feb. 13, 2014 story, it was reported the $4.8 million project has been awarded to LG Barcus Construction out of Kansas City, Kan.

Markl T. Johnson, Missouri Department of Transportation Senior Customer Relations Specialist, said several issues have delayed re-opening this route. First, he said, the bridges were among the oldest in their system, going back nearly 80 years.

“We found more work to repair once the project was under way,” Johnson said. “Second, there were some utility relocation delays, which have now been resolved.”

He added since the bridge work is over both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads, the contractor is required to have flaggers approved by both railroads anytime their construction is above or within 25 feet either side of the rails.

“A flagger is available for one of the railroads, but not for the other at this time,” Johnson said. “The contractor and MoDOT are working with both railroads to speed up this process.”