A Butler County bridge considered to be deficient will be replaced over the next four months, as repairs to another bridge near completion.
Robertson Contractors of Poplar Bluff, Mo., submitted a low bid of $517,800 to replace a bridge on County 260, near Highway EE. The company was given notice of award this week.
Work is expected to begin at the end of the month and take between 60 and 120 days.
The county will use a combination of funding from the state bridge replacement program to pay for all of the costs of this project, according to officials.
This money can only be used for bridges deemed deficient by the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The County Road 260 bridge is the one with the most problems for the county on that list, said presiding commissioner Vince Lampe.
The 20-foot wide structure sits atop four wooden pilings that rise about 16 feet above the ground, said Smith and Company structural engineer Jeremy Manning.
The height above the ground makes the pilings a weaker type of construction for a structure that serves heavy trucks and agriculture equipment, he explained.
A single span bridge that is 26-feet wide will replace the structure, which was built in 1965. It had reconstruction work done in 1985, according to MoDOT.
This bridge has a sufficiency rating of less than 50 percent, MoDOT reports.
It sees about 100 vehicles per day, according to a 2013 study by MoDOT.
Funding comes from the Bridge Replacement Off System program, which is managed by the state and paid for with federal money.
A bid of $596,400 was also received from Joe's Bridge and Grading of Poplar Bluff and $819,200 from Brockmiller Construction of Farmington, Mo.
County crews are close to completing other repairs on a County Road 654 bridge which was closed in mid-November.
It will cost about $15,000 to replace the four wooden pilings with concrete and steel, according to officials.
Crews have a couple more days of work to do, dependent on weather. MoDOT inspectors will then have to sign off on the repairs.
The bridge is located near Broseley, Mo.