By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Two hearings will be held this week on the new Mississippi River Bridge project.
Work on the $640 million bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois in St. Louis is expected to begin early next year. Lester Woods with the Missouri Department of Transportation says this week's hearings will help officials determine the participation goals for minority and women-owned businesses.
"The I-64 project had a 16-percent goal. I suspect that on all of the projects for the MRB it will be well above that goal," Woods said.
Transportation officials say they're wrapping up design work for the bridge and its approaches. They hope to put the project out for bid this fall.
The hearings will be held at the St. Patrick Center in St. Louis on Tuesday and at the Gethsemane Church of the Living God in East St. Louis on Wednesday. They run from 4 to 6 p.m. each day.