The Route 66 Gasconade River Bridge Guardians this week issued a report on its activities to preserve the closed historic bridge near Hazelgreen, Missouri. The group met in St. Louis on Sunday.
Here is a summary of the meeting, as described on a post on Facebook on Thursday:
— The group’s fundraising efforts have generated $7,760 so far, which puts it over the $6,000 threshold for a matching grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to pay for an engineering survey on the bridge.
— The group has contacted an engineer who will begin a study of the bridge in about three weeks or when the corridor program approves the move. Another three months is needed before the engineer’s report is finished. “At that point, we will have a better idea of cost to stabilize and repair the bridge to hopefully open it to pedestrian and/or bicycle traffic. We do not expect or plan for motor vehicle traffic at this point.”
— The group is negotiating with the Missouri Department of Transportation for a year-to-year lease of the bridge until its permanent owner is found. The Guardians face a March deadline for it or someone to take over ownership of the bridge.
— The group is shopping for an insurance package that will satisfy MoDOT and “be attractive to a new owner.” It anticipates an annual cost of $7,000 to $10,000, which will need more fundraising.
The group also stated in conclusion:
We have a few ideas regarding people/corporations we’d like to approach about owning this bridge, but if you know someone we might not have considered, please share your thoughts. Saving a bridge isn’t something that can be done in in week or two, a few months, or even a few years, so while it may seem at times that we aren’t doing much, let us assure you that we may be a very small group, but we are continuously working hard to save this Gasconade River Bridge.
State officials closed the bridge in December 2014 after an inspection revealed grave deterioration in the 90-year-old structure. MoDOT soon will build a new bridge a few yards away from the old bridge and Interstate 44.
Iowa-based Workin’ Bridges earlier this year backed out of the project to rehabilitate the bridge after questions arose from several Route 66 advocates about the group’s transparency and methods, including a Revive 66 road-trip campaign and website that have disappeared off Facebook and the internet. Workin’ Bridges eventually returned donations to the Guardians.