OLD STATE BRIDGES WORRYING MODOT

Cars and trucks still roll across the 66-year-old Caney Creek Bridge on Route A just north of New Hamburg, Mo.

But traffic has been reduced to one lane on the deteriorating structure, with trucks weighing over 14 tons instructed to drive across at a 15-mile-per-hour crawl.

The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to replace the bridge, although it's uncertain when. Preliminary engineering work on a $732,000 new structure is slated to be completed by October.

But the Caney Creek structure, built in 1935, is just one bridge problem MoDOT faces statewide.

Missouri has 23,388 state, city and county bridges. Thirty-nine percent of them are listed as deficient in some way by MoDOT, which inspects them all.

Those inspections reveal 6,361 were labeled structurally deficient and 2,697 functionally obsolete. Structurally deficient bridges generally have weight limits while functionally obsolete spans are narrower than current standards.

Missouri ranks near the top nationally in deficient bridges, anywhere from fifth to second depending on the numbers used by various agencies and transportation groups. Texas has the most deficient bridges with over 10,000.

Southeast Missouri isn't immune from the problem. There are 771 bridges total in Cape Girardeau, Scott, Perry and Bollinger counties. MoDOT records show 40 percent, or 311, are deficient.

That figure rises to 44 percent in Scott County and drops to 37 percent in Cape Girardeau County.

The list includes 184 structurally deficient bridges like the Caney Creek Bridge and the 74-year-old Mississippi River Bridge in Cape Girardeau. The Cape Girardeau bridge structure has deteriorated, and it wasn't built to handle today's heavy trucks. The new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is under construction to replace the old span.

The other 127 bridges are considered functionally obsolete.

Drivers shouldn't panic

Henry Hungerbeeler, director of MoDOT, says Missourians shouldn't panic over such statistics. But he says the figures point to the need for stepped up efforts to replace and repair deficient bridges.

State bridges are inspected annually and county bridges are inspected every other year, and labeling a bridge deficient as a result doesn't mean it is unsafe.

But it is a cause for concern, Hungerbeeler said. Old bridges often have load limits and are restricted to one-lane traffic. School buses and fire trucks have to make lengthy detours to avoid bridges that can't withstand their weight.

A county bridge collapsed in central Missouri last year under the weight of a truck whose driver ignored the posted load limit.

"Of course, we would like to get rid of one-lane bridges," Hungerbeeler said.

MoDOT rates bridges on a scale of 1 to 9. When the rating of a bridge falls to 2, the state highway department considers it unsafe and closes it to traffic. Hungerbeeler said many hover around rating 3, making them ultimately more expensive to maintain than replace.

But replacements take money, something the state doesn't have, Hungerbeeler says.

Still, MoDOT is trying to tackle the problem by issuing state bonds.

The Legislature has approved selling up to $2.25 billion in bonds over several years to speed up road and bridge improvements.

For the budget year that starts July 1, MoDOT proposes spending nearly $295 million in bond proceeds for bridges. The projects would include 174 bridge replacements, 34 replacements of bridge decks and/or driving surfaces and 22 rehabilitation projects to update existing spans.

Bridge-o-phobia'

Among the projects is a new Missouri River bridge at Lexington, Mo., to address what bar owner Katherine Van Amburg calls "bridge-o-phobia," which afflicts drivers who cross the narrow span. The symptoms are white knuckles, amazed head shakes and tart comments, sometimes followed by a quick order from her bar.

The Lexington bridge opened in 1925, only two years before Cape Girardeau's Mississippi River Bridge.

Hungerbeeler says it isn't just the number of deficient bridges that concern him. What makes matters worse is that many of the deficient bridges were built in the 1920s and are nearing the end of their lives. The old bridges were built for Model T Fords, not 80,000-pound trucks, he says.

Bridges back then typically were built with two 10-foot-wide lanes and no shoulders. A state bridge being built today would have 12-foot lanes and 10-foot shoulders.

The Missouri Association of Counties says county governments maintain 58 percent of the bridges in the state, and nearly half of those bridges are more than 50 years old.

But counties have been repairing and replacing bridges at a faster rate than the state, Hungerbeeler says, because state bridges often are built to higher standards, adding to the cost.

Cape Girardeau County replaces about five small bridges a year and constructs a major bridge every two years. It costs about $200,000 a year to replace five 30- to 50-foot-long bridges, says Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Larry Bock, who supervises the county's road department.

At the state level, Hungerbeeler says MoDOT hasn't adequately maintained its own roads and bridges over the years. "We have been trying to use every dollar to build something new instead of taking care of what we have."

He says Missouri needs to spend $500 million a year or about double its current spending over the next 20 years just to repair and upgrade the existing roads and bridges in the state.

Finding more money for roads and bridges in this tight budget year won't be easy, Hungerbeeler acknowledges. But without added funds, Missouri's bridges will continue to deteriorate.

"Some day, we are going to have to close a bridge," he says. "And then I can just imagine what the public reaction is going to be."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A LIST OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI'S DEFICIENT BRIDGES

The Missouri Department of Transportation says four of every 10 bridges or 311 deficient bridges combined in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger and Scott are deficient. More than half or 182 are listed as structurally deficient (SD). The other 129 are functionally obsolete (FO). Structurally deficient generally means a bridge has a weight restriction. Functionally obsolete means a bridge is narrower than current standards.

Bollinger County

Bollinger County has 55 deficient bridges, including 21 maintained by the state and 34 on county and city routes.

Deficient bridges on state routes

Highway 34 at Gimlet Creek SD

Highway 34 at Hog Creek FO

Highway 51 at Longs Creek FO

Highway 51 at East Fork Long Creek FO

Highway 51 at Dry Creek FO

Highway 72 at Whitewater Creek FO

Highway 72 at Buckskin Creek FO

Highway 51 at Zimmerman Branch FO

Highway 91 at Dry Creek FO

Highway 51 at Castor River SD

Highway 51 at Castor River Overflow FO

Highway 51 at Drainage Ditch No. 11 SD

Highway 51 at Drainage Ditch No. 104 SD

Route A at Crooked Creek Branch FO

Route A at Crooked Creek FO

Route B at Hog Creek FO

Route B at Hog Creek FO

Route P at Slagle Creek SD

Route P at Brush Creek SD

Route B at Little Muddy Creek SD

Route B at Grable Creek FO

Deficient county and city bridges

Road 930 at Conrad Creek SD

Road 906 at Little Whitewater SD

Road 204 at Buck Creek FO

Road 238 at Whitewater River SD

Road 236 at Branch Whitewater Creek SD

Road 234 Branch Whitewater Creek SD

Road 234 (city street) at Whitewater River FO

Road 236 at Whitewater River FO

Road 378 at Branch Little Whitewater FO

Road 360 at Yantz Creek SD

Road 366 at Yantz Creek SD

Road 302 at Hog Greek SD

Road 524 at Cane Creek SD

Road 416 at Dry Creek SD

Road 414 at Dry Creek FO

Road 408 at Branch Crooked Creek SD

Road 408 at Crooked Creek SD

Road 418 at Malone Creek SD

Road 434 at Malone Creek SD

Road 428 at Ditch No. 8 SD

Road 424 at a drainage ditch SD

Road 654 at drainage ditch SD

Road 420 at Branch Dry Creek SD

Road 528 at Hawker Creek SD

Road 530 at Clubb Creek SD

Road 534 at Hawker Creek SD

Road 532 at Virgin Creek SD

city street at Crooked Creek SD

Road 708 at Perkins Creek FO

Road 736 at Castor River SD

Road 846 at Crooked Creek FO

Road 852 at Branch Crooked Creek SD

Road 501 at Opossum Creek SD

Cape Girardeau County

130 deficient bridges in Cape Girardeau County

77 are county and city bridges, 53 are state bridges

Deficient state bridges

Interstate 55 at U.S. 61 structurally deficient (SD)

Bloomfield Road at I-55, functionally obsolete (FO)

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Highway 74 FO

I-55 at Burlington Northern Railroad tracks FO

Highway 74 at I-55 FO

Highway 74 at Ramsey Creek FO

Highway 177 at Indian Creek SD

U.S. 61 at unnamed creek FO

U.S. 61 at Hughes Creek FO

U.S. 61 at Buckeye Creek SD

Highway 72 at Whitewater Creek FO

Highway 72 at Byrds Creek FO

East Outer Road at I-55 drainage ditch FO

Highway 25 at drainage ditch FO

East Outer Road at ST. Louis San Francisco Railroad tracks FO

Highway 25 at Williams Creek FO

U.S. 61 at Hubble Creek FO

Highway 25 at Drainage Ditch 26 FO

Highway 25 at Drainage Ditch 25 FO

Highway 25 at Williams Creek Overflow FO

Highway 74 at Little Ramsey Creek SD

Highway 34 at Hubble Creek FO

Highway 34 at Dillard Creek FO

Highway 34 at Whitewater River SD

Highway 34 at Whitewater River SD

Highway 34 at Byrd Creek FO

Highway 74 at Jobs Creek FO

Highway 25 at Whitewater Channel FO

Cape Girardeau Mississippi River Bridge SD

Highway 74 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Highway 74 FO

Route Y at unnamed creek FO

Route Y at Indian Creek FO

Route C at Shawnee Creek FO

Route C at Blue Shawnee Creek FO

Route OO at Dillard Creek SD

Route W at Cape LaCroix Creek FO

Route OO at Whitewater River FO

Route V at Indian Creek SD

Route D at Cane Creek FO

Route D at Byrd Creek SD

Route EE at Little River Drainage Ditch No. 1

Route KK at Apple Creek FO

Route N at Whitewater River SD

Route N at Small Creek SD

Route A at Beam Branch SD

Highway 177 at Flora Creek FO

Route Z at Hubble Creek SD

Route Z at Hubble Creek Overflow SD

Deficient county and city bridges

County Road 407 at Apple Creek FO

Road 422 at Caney Fork Creek SD

Road 401 at Sandy Creek SD

Road 412 at Branch Little Apple Creek SD

Road 501 at Apple Creek FO

Road 510 at Hughes Creek SD

Road 427 at Branch Hughes Creek FO

Road 522 at Muddy Shawnee SD

Road 524 at Blue Shawnee Creek FO

Road 522 at Blue Shawnee Creek SD

Road 522 at Branch of Blue Shawnee SD

Road 535 at unnamed creek SD

Road 525 at unnamed creek SD

Road 532 at Branch of Blue Shawnee

Road 549 at Branch of Indian Creek SD

Road 543 at unnamed creek SD

Road 603 at branch of Indian Creek SD

Road 606 at branch of Indian Creek SD

Road 616 at unnamed creek SD

Road 306 at Williams Creek SD

Main Street at Sloans Creek SD

Howell Street at Walker Creek SD

East Rodney at Cape LaCroix Creek SD

South Sprigg at Cape LaCroix FO

Hopper Road at Cape LaCroix SD

Route H at South Wyaconda River FO

Road 620 at unnamed creek SD

Road 621 at unnamed creek SD

Road 621 at unnamed creek SD

Road 621 at branch of Cape LaCroix SD

Road 621 at Cape LaCroix SD

Road 638 at Scism Creek SD

Road 635 at Little Flora Creek SD

Road 634 at Little Flora Creek SD

Road 203 at Randol Creek SD

Unnamed road at Ramsey Creek SD

Bloomfield Road at branch of Ramsey Creek SD

Road 250 at ditch SD

Road 274 at unnamed creek SD

Road 274 at unnamed ditch SD

Road 274 at unnamed ditch SD

Road 274 at unnamed ditch SD

Road 272 at unnamed ditch SD

Road 268 at unnamed ditch SD

Road 280 at unnamed creek SD

Road 279 at No. 8 Ditch SD

Road 238 at Diversion Channel SD

Road 255 at Crooked Creek SD

Road 233 at unnamed creek SD

Road 241 at unnamed ditch FO

Road 231 at branch of Hubble Creek SD

Road 233 at unnamed creek SD

Road 233 at unnamed creek SD

Road 233 at unnamed creek SD

Road 233 at unnamed creek SD

Road 361 at branch of Cane Creek SD

Road 327 at branch of Hubble Creek SD

Road 327 at branch of Hubble Creek SD

Road 351 at Little Whitewater River SD

Road 352 at Little Whitewater River FO

East Main Street at Goose Creek FO

North Main St. at Hubble Creek SD

Old Cape Road at Goose Creek SD

Road 450 at Hunter Creek SD

Road 450 at Cane Creek SD

Road 450 at Hunter Creek SD

Road 436 at Cane Creek SD

Road 436 at Little Cane Creek FO

Road 439 at branch of Horrell Creek FO

Road 439 at Horrell Creek FO

Road 440 at Byrds Creek SD

Road 477 at Whitewater River FO

Road 657 at Scism Creek SD

Road 519 at branch of Buckeye Creek SD

Road 610 at branch of Indian Creek SD

Road 303 at branch of Hubble Creek FO

Perry County

Perry County has 46 deficient bridges including 20 maintained by the state and 26 on county routes.

Deficient state bridges

Highway 51 at Bois Brule Creek SD

U.S. 61 at Indian Creek FO

U.S. 61 at Apple Creek FO

Route B at Cinque Creek FO

Highway 51 at Mississippi River FO

Highway 51 at Horse Island Chute FO

Route O at Apple Creek SD

Route E at Bois Brule Creek SD

Route K at Apple Creek FO

Route P at Dry Fork Creek SD

Route C at Apple Creek FO

Route N at Goose Creek FO

Route A at Indian Creek SD

Route H at Laruen Creek Sd

Route T at Saline Creek SD

Route T at Saline Creek SD

Route H at Drain FO

Private road at unnamed creek (bridge is on state right of way) FO

Route M at Falls Branch SD

Route J at Whitewater Creek FO

Deficient county roads

Road 322 at Cinque Hommes FO

Road 216 at drainage channel FO

Road 216 at McClanahan Creek SD

Road 212 at Diversion Channel SD

Road 916 at Branch of Blue Springs SD

Road 930 at Laurent Creek SD

Road 930 at Laurie Creek SD

Road 930 at unnamed creek FO

Road 924 at Falts Branch FO

Road 838 at Saline Creek tributary FO

Road 914 at Branch of South Fork Saline Creek FO

Road 918 at Cedar Fork FO

county road at Goose Creek SD

Road 854 at South Saline Creek FO

Road 330 at Branch of Omette Creek SD

Road 340 at unnamed creek SD

Road 430 at unnamed creek FO

Road 434 at unnamed creek FO

Road 418 at unnamed creek SD

Road 408 at Indian Creek SD

Road 422 at branch of Indian Creek SD

Road 424 at branch of Apple Creek SD

Road 538 at Sandy Creek FO

Road 616 at Apple Creek FO

Road 862 at branch of Saline Creek FO

Scott County

Total: 80: They include 54 state bridges and 26 local bridges.

State deficient bridges:

I-57 at North Cut Ditch SD

I-57 at North Cut Ditch SD

Route M at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

I-55 at Ramsey Creek FO

Route H at I-55 SD

I-55 at U.S. 62 FO

I-55 at U.S. 62 FO

I-55 at I-57 FO

I-55 at I-57 FO

Route M at Burlington Northern tracks FO

Highway 114 at Drainage Ditch No. 1 FO

Highway 77 at North Cut Ditch SD

Highway 77 at stream FO

U.S. 61 at Ramsey Creek SD

U.S. 61 at St. Louis Southwest Railroad tracks FO

Highway 77 at Drainage Ditch No. 1 FO

Highway 77 at Drainage Ditch No. 19 SD

Highway 77 at lateral No. 1 FO

Highway 77 at St. Louis San Francisco Railroad tracks FO

Route ZZ at Drainage Ditch No. 4 SD

I-55 at Ditch No. 2 FO

Route Y at Drainage Ditch No. 2 FO

Route Y at Drainage Ditch No. 1 FO

Route Y at Drainage Ditch No. 4 FO

Route O at drainage ditch FO

Route PP at Ramsey Creek FO

Route C at St. Johns Ditch FO

Route W at Drainage Ditch No. 1 SD

Route W at Drainage Ditch No. 1 FO

Route EE at Little River Drainage Ditch FO

Route EE at Little River Drainage Ditch SD

Route PP at I-55 SD

Route AA at U.S. 60 FO

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch No. 1 SD

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch No. 4 SD

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch No. 291

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch No. 2 SD

Route P at Whitewater River SD

Highway 91 at Little River SD

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch 35 SD

Highway 91 at Drainage Ditch 1 SD

Route Z at Drainage Ditch 4 FO

Route Z at Drainage Ditch 1 FO

Route Z at Drainage Ditch 2 SD

Route A at Caney Creek SD

Route A at Caney Creek SD

Route H at lateral SD

Route H at Blue Ditch SD

Route ZZ at Drainage Ditch 2 SD

County and city deficient bridges

Road 227 at Caney Creek SD

Road 220 at a drainage ditch FO

Road 216 at Sals Creek SD

Road 210 at Diversion Channel SD

Road 311 at Ramsey Branch SD

Road 427 at St. Johns Ditch SD

Road 353 at drainage ditch SD

Road 476 at Little River FO

Road 442 at drainage ditch SD

Road 444 at Little River SD

Road 412 at drainage ditch SD

Road 265 at Ditch No. 3 SD

Road 420 at drainage ditch SD

Road 420 at Ditch No. 2 FO

Road 420 at drainage ditch SD

Road 420 at drainage ditch SD

Road 418 at Little River SD

Road 268 at drainage ditch SD

Road 268 at drainage ditch SD

Road 282 at Ditch No. 1 SD

Road 261 at drainage ditch SD

Road 204 at drainage ditch SD

Road 235 at unnamed creek SD

Mountain Street at drainage ditch SD

Perkins Street at Ramsey Branch SD