By JOE JAROSZ
Northeast News
June 11, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Drivers will have to take the long way around US-24 for a little while longer.

Steve Porter, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said re-opening of the US-24 bridge is now slated for mid-July. 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.

“With the hope of clearer weather, the contractor [may] beat that by a few days or more,” Porter said.

Porter said the delay is due in part to “extensive additional repairs uncovered early in the project” and recent weather postponing concrete deck pours. Mike Warren, engineer for MoDOT overseeing the project said repairs to the steel superstructure were included in the contract, but when the deck was removed, more areas that would benefit from repair were discovered.

“Having the deck removed made access to make repairs to these areas convenient,” Warren said. ” Each of these replacement components required custom fabrication offsite prior to installation, which extended the timeline in that the repairs had to be made prior to the deck being replaced.”

The work also included replacing the expansion joints on the Route 24 bridge over the railroad tracks just west of the Blue River. The first deck pour occurred Tuesday, June 3, and the second of three was poured Friday, June 6th. 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.