Work crews started Monday in dismantling the closed Route 66 Bridge over the Meramec River at Route 66 State Park near Eureka, Mo., reported the Eureka-Wildwood Patch.
A crew member from XL Contracting, the staff handling the deconstruction of the bridge, told Patch Monday the concrete on the bridge will be cut into slabs and taken off, along with the railing.
He said the bridge’s beams will be left, in hopes that some entity will want to rebuild the bridge in the next five years.
He also said the bridge work was slated to be done by Dec. 14.
The bridge was built in 1932 to carry Route 66 into Times Beach, Mo. A previous report said the bridge’s decking would be removed to take weight off the structure and keep it from collapsing into the river.
The bridge was closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic in October 2009. About 20 preservation groups are working to restore the bridge to at least foot traffic. The executive director of Scenic Missouri said the state will maintain ownership of the bridge until 2017.
Until preservationists intervened, the state had planned to tear down the dilapidated bridge. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The dismantling of the bridge started less than a week after soil tests in the state park revealed that dioxin levels had been lowered to safe levels for visitors and park rangers. Times Beach was evacuated about 30 years ago because of dioxin contamination. After the contaminated soil was incinerated, Route 66 State Park was established on the site.
Hmm. I’m planning a Rte 66 bicycle tour come spring and wondering how I’ll manage to cross the river… trying to stay as near as possible to the historic route – 40s and before.