By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Work crews for the Missouri Department of Transportation are inspecting three large bridges this week after last week's collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis. They include the Hurricane Deck Bridge at the Lake of the Ozarks, which opened to traffic in 1936.
MODOT engineer Carl Callahan says the nearly half-mile long bridge has expansion joints built into it,
"where the spans come up together, that will allow it to slide back and forth so if you try to make it tight, and you try to make it one length, as it expands, it would put stress in the areas you don't want stress so by lettin' it slide it alleviates that stress it doesn't make members buckle or tear."
MODOT workers are also inspecting two bridges over the Missouri River the bridge at Washington, and the Miami Bridge near Marshall.