Bridges over old Frisco Railroad to be replaced, bottom filled

Poplar Bluff’s Frisco Railroad is a big part of the city’s history, but one section of the old rail bed has become not only an eyesore, with trash and debris collecting in places, but a potential danger to motorists.

“The old Frisco Railroad crossed the river, cut through a hillside, then became what is now Moran Street before it got to the depot,” said Poplar Bluff Street Department Superintendent Jerry Lawson. “As the town grew, they ended up having to make a roadway across it.”

That roadway is actually two streets, Broadway and Main. The decades-old Broadway bridge is in disrepair, with several 2X12-inch support timbers deteriorated so badly they’re falling from the structure.

Structural timbers under the Broadway bridge over the old Frisco Railroad have deteriorated to the point where the bridge has become a safety concern for city officials. DAR/Paul Davis

The condition is bad enough that almost a year and a half ago, the City of Poplar Bluff, under the advice of Smith & Company engineers, implemented a three-ton weight limit on the structure.

“We’ve had to re-route and run out Main Street,” said Poplar Bluff Fire Chief Ralph Stucker of the need to avoid the Broadway bridge. “It was bad off the bat, but the two-way traffic on Main Street helps, and it took a little time for our guys to remember to go that way.”

“It needs to have some attention put on it. All of that old infrastructure was designed for lighter weight vehicles and is under-designed for today’s age,” said Lawson. “I don’t think it’s going to fall tomorrow or anything, but I wouldn’t want to drive concrete trucks across it all day long.”

Poplar Bluff Street Department Superintendent Jerry Lawson (left) and City Planner Matt Winters look at deteriorated timbers under the Main Street bridge over the old Frisco Railroad. The adjacent Broadway bridge is in much worse condition and has a three-ton weight limit being enforced. DAR/Paul Davis

The adjacent Main Street bridge over the rail bed, Lawson said, is in much better shape.

Several potential solutions for fixing the aging Broadway structure were developed, Lawson said, but contractor bids came back much higher than anticipated.

“The lowest original bid was around $220,000, but we were looking at about $165,000 just for the Broadway portion,” Lawson said. “I told Mark (Massingham, city manager) I would reject them all.

“I said, ‘let me see what kind of materials and time frame I can come up with and give you some numbers.’”

The idea, Lawson noted, was to use fill material under each bridge to support the additional weight of modern vehicles.

“We came up with a figure somewhere less than $49,000 for the whole thing,” Lawson said, noting “from a fiscal standpoint, this is the most responsible thing to do.”

With such a “creative solution, it’s going to be easier on our budget than it was originally going to be,” added City Planner Matt Winters.

There is no timeline for the project, Lawson said, because everything is dependent on weather and other work projects in the city.

Clay fill material is being donated by a local business, Lawson said, so “trucking costs will be the biggest expense.”

Depending on how the project goes, he said, he may need to rent a bulldozer and trucks to complete the work.

“It comes down to if we have to lease a few trucks or do it on our own, and if I can spare the trucks,” he said.

The project, Lawson said, likely will be done in two phases.

In the first phase, up to 9,000 tons of material will be used to fill in the area under both bridges, with a drainage culvert installed between them running east toward the Black River.

Once material is filled as high as equipment allows, the Broadway bridge would be closed for several days while more material was added from above.

“We have to fill as much as we can before we have to take the road out and fill it from the top,” Lawson said.

After several days of material compaction, traffic likely would be allowed to drive over the fill material to help compress it more.

“Then we’ll look for a good window in the weather to either go back with asphalt or concrete, depending on our budget,” Lawson said.

The second phase of the project, Lawson noted, likely would be done the following year after the fill material under the Main Street bridge settled.

Once the work is completed, Lawson said, he expects the project to be a benefit for the city.

“It will be better for everyone in the long run,” he said.