Workin’ Bridges withdraws from Gasconade River Bridge preservation effort

The Workin’ Bridges nonprofit organization this week withdrew from its efforts to raise money to preserve the closed Gasconade River Bridge near Hazelgreen, Missouri, after several Route 66 enthusiasts questioned the group’s plans and its transparency.

Julie Bowers, executive director of the Iowa-based Workin’ Bridges, said in a phone interview Thursday she was “bullied” online on Facebook by questioners, and “we apparently stepped on a lot of toes” in the Route 66 community.

“We wish everyone the best,” Bowers said. “We felt we were on a track that was the best to try.”

Bowers said the organization would begin returning about $6,900 in donations for the bridge-preservation effort next week.

Rich Dinkela, a Route 66 enthusiast based in the St. Louis region who was among those questioning Workin’ Bridges’ methods, said the Route 66 Gasconade River Bridge Guardians will meet Sunday to come up with a new plan.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and start over,” Dinkela said by phone Thursday. “I’ve got some ideas, and other people have some ideas. I think we’ve got a better shot at saving the bridge than Workin’ Bridges ever did.”

The state closed the nearly 90-year-old Gasconade River Bridge in December 2014 after inspectors found serious deterioration. The Missouri Department of Transportation announced a year ago it would build a new bridge next to the Gasconade span in 2019. In the meantime, local preservationists must find an entity to take ownership of the old bridge, or it faces demolition.

One thing holding back the bridge’s preservation is Laclede County commissioners have shown little interest in taking ownership, Bowers said.

“They did not see the economic value of a bridge that was 14 miles from Lebanon,” she said.

Bowers said according to MoDOT estimates, repairing the bridge would take $3.1 million, including $1.2 million in removing lead paint. Dinkela, a contractor, disputed the cost of the lead remediation. He also said a MoDOT official told him such remediation may not be necessary.

Bowers said Workin’ Bridges proposed an investment account of several hundred thousand dollars in which interest income would pay for the bridge’s liability insurance, plus biannual inspections on the structure.

But what raised the hackles of several Route 66 fans was the group’s Revive 66 tour in January and a proposed website. Revive 66 embarked on a nearly 2,000-mile road trip from Santa Monica to mid-Missouri, with several Facebook Live posts from Route 66 daily.

Bowers said Revive 66 proposed a $66 membership that would go into a fund to help not only the Gasconade River Bridge, but other Route 66 bridges and businesses. She cited paying for new neon lighting on the Motel Safari sign in Tucumcari, New Mexico, as a possible example.

The Revive 66 website was part of a $7,000 branding and marketing campaign from UpgradeMedia in Nashville, Tennessee. Bowers said the group planned to unveil the website at this month’s Route 66: The Road Ahead conference in Tulsa, but she pulled the plug on it this week.

The Revive 66 page on Facebook no longer exists, nor does the Gasconade River Bridge: A Revive 66 Restoration page. Dinkela, however, took several screen shots from both pages, including discussions about whether the Revive 66 campaign was prudent and whether saving the bridge still was a priority.

Ed Klein of Route 66 World wrote on the Gasconade River Bridge: A Revive 66 Restoration page:

Actually, the Guardians were the ones who started it, and if I remember correctly they reached out to see who can help, and your group came in, on your white horse, to save the day. To be fair, it seemed like this is ‘what you do’ so at the time it seemed like a natural fit BUT as time went on and very little info was passed out and around, and the fact of any real transparency of where the money is going, we are here at this moment fighting about it.

So:

— If you feel the bridge will not be saved in the alloted time, why the continuous fundraising and donations?

— If the bridge does not get saved, what happens to the funds that were given to you to save the BRIDGE, and not for admin and travel costs?

— Is there more than one “bucket” for funds (donations for particular bridge projection versus admin and other expenses)?

— If not, why not?

— If so, why is the donations for repairing the bridge (and engineering costs) going elsewhere (like road trips)?

And for the record, I can swear on the lives of my children the vast majority of us would be RIGHT behind you and helping you, but you never once asked (other than donations) and the information we all received as a sparse, if at all.

Bowers said Thursday she provided whatever information was requested.

An email Thursday to Klein was not answered.

Dinkela also said he couldn’t get a consistent answer from Bowers on how much money was needed for certain goals for the bridge.

“We need to know what we’re fundraising for,” he said. “She was pulling numbers out of anywhere.”

Bowers said one plan from John McNulty, manager of Grand Canyon Caverns in Arizona, was to eventually convert the Gasconade County Bridge into “the longest bar on the route.”

Dinkela regarded that, along with the $7,000 marketing and branding and several other plans, as “grandiose.”

With Workin’ Bridges out of the Gasconade River Bridge effort, Bowers said the group would move on to other projects.

“We really are the only game in town in saving bridges,” she said.

UPDATE 2/18/2018: Workin’ Bridges issued a statement about the saga.

(Image of the Gasconade River Bridge courtesy of Workin’ Bridges)