With the Route 66 State Park bridge near Eureka, Missouri, facing an early 2017 deadline, the Great Rivers Greenway is raising funds in an effort save the bridge from demolition and even restore it.
The $325,000 earmarked by the Missouri Department of Transportation for demolition in 2017 instead would be rolled into a restoration plan and the bridge deeded to the park if Great Rivers Greenway comes up with a viable proposal.
The Washington Missourian reported:
To save the bridge from demolition, the group must raise about $1 million by Dec. 31, 2016. To restore it, the group needs to raise about $5.5 million overall.
Great Rivers Greenway has the potential to seek its board’s approval of up to $3 million toward the redevelopment of the bridge over the next few years, if other resources come forward.
The organizations and major stakeholders involved in bringing attention to the bridge’s future include Great Rivers Greenway, Landmarks Association of St. Louis (a nonprofit dedicated to historical preservation), Trailnet (a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization), Open Space Council (a land and water conservation organization), MoDOT, St. Louis County Parks and Missouri State Parks.
The groups set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the bridge. In just seven days, it raised more than $3,700, with a goal of $650,000.
Missouri Route 66er Joe Sonderman, who keeps tabs on the bridge as well as anyone, said in Facebook post this week: “I had given up. But there is now a ray of hope.”
MoDOT ripped out the bridge’s deck a few years ago, fearing its weight would collapse the weakened bridge into the Meramec River.
The long-term goal is convert the Route 66 State Park bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle trail that will reconnect its office with the rest of the park. The only way to access the park now is a circuitous route from Interstate 44 and frontage roads.
The 1,009-foot bridge was built in 1932. The park sits in the former site of Times Beach, Missouri. The town was evacuated in 1983 because of dioxin contamination. The toxic soil was incinerated, and the land where the town once sat became Route 66 State Park. The park’s office is the former Steiny’s Inn along Route 66.
(Image of the Route 66 State Park bridge near Eureka, Missouri, by Haydn Blackey via Flickr)