MoDOT is spending 115,000 dollars to aerial map Interstate 70 in Columbia to collect data for a bridge project. Central District Design Engineer Natalie Roark says the money for the project is designated in its budget.
“The money for performing the work has been identified in the statewide transportation improvement plan for completing the preliminary design work on the project, so it’s both federal and state transportation dollars,” Roark said.
Roark also said department heads chose to aerial map for this specific project because it provides maximum safety for surveyors and the travelling public in the congested urban area. Helicopters will survey from Stadium Boulevard to Route 63 Friday – if weather conditions are safe – and is expected to take six hours.
After collecting data, MoDOT will spend 18 million dollars to replace three prominent bridges along Interstate 70. Travis Koestner, Assistant District Engineer for the Central District, said the money is coming from a normal place for MoDOT.
“It’s regular money that comes from fuel tax… So it’s road bridge money from the fuel that Missourians pay whenever they fill up at the pump,” Koestner said.
Since the bridges on Business Loop 70, Garth Avenue and Route 763 were built in the late 50s and the early 60s, Koestner said the bridges will have to be demolished and rebuilt. He also said the earliest time people will see construction is late 2015.