By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
June 12, 2013

Drivers who regularly cross the Benton Boulevard Bridge at I-70 will need to find an alternate route.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) shut down the bridge for repairs on June 6 and the bridge will likely remain closed through June 24.

MoDOT Spokesperson Steve Porter said the Benton Boulevard Bridge was built in the 1960s and needed extensive bridge deck repairs. A bridge deck is the surface that vehicles drive on and also provides bridge support. The concrete is 8 to 10 inches thick and can deteriorate due to salt that migrates through the concrete, he said.

“Initially we had hoped to do the repairs by closing down a lane at a time, but so many repairs are along the center line of the bridge that the only way we could effectively do it is close the bridge down and try to limit the time we’re closing down the bridge,” Porter said. “It’s (bridge) pretty old. We haven’t done a full re-deck on that, so we’re doing repairs to try and get another decade or so out of it.”