By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The chief engineer at the Missouri Department of Transportation is sounding another funding warning.
Kevin Keith told highway commissioners Wednesday the department needs $300-500 million in the next decade - just for Missouri's 200 biggest bridges.
MO-DOT has benefited from some good timing of late. When a bridge collapsed in Minnesota and spotlighted crumbling infrastructure, the agency was already working on a plan to repair or replace its 800 most worn-out crossings.
But only one of those bridges is considered a major bridge, or more than 1,000 feet long.
"We've made a lot of progress on our major bridges, but there's a lot of them," Keith said, in an interview. " And we're not replacing them in Missouri, or investing enough money in infrastructure in Missouri - not just for major bridges, but for anything - to keep up."
The state's newest major bridge was dedicated just last week. It's at Hermann, Mo. and is named for Senator Kit Bond. But the state must pick up the pace if it wants to keep all 203 of its major bridges usable for the next centure, Keith added.
He suggested the state needs to replace two of its major bridges each year to keep up.
"Major bridges are important to our economy because when one goes out, it's a big deal. And we don't have that issue right now and we're trying to make sure we don't.
"But it's something to put on the radar screen."