This is probably letting the cat out of the bag, but this excerpt in the Wayneville (Mo.) Daily Guide reports that Pulaski County has earned an $8,000 cost-share grant from the National Park Service’s Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to repair the Devil’s Elbow Bridge:
County Clerk Diana Linnenbringer presented copies of documents required for an $8,000 National Park Service grant for the Devil’s Elbow bridge. That’s part of matching funds that will be used toward an estimated $1.6 million cost to refurbish the Devil’s Elbow bridge, one of the endangered legs of Old Route 66 whose condition has already deteriorated to the point that tour buses can’t go through Devil’s Elbow.
The cost may be less than $1.6 million due to a different method of rust protection for the bridge than had originally been planned.
“If we get the deal put together, it will significantly reduce the cost,” Farnham said.
The complete list of 2008 recipients of Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program cost-share grants will be released sometime later this month.