Pulaski County, Mo., wants to repair the Devil’s Elbow Bridge on Route 66 but is short several hundred thousand dollars to do so. So it now may barter its way to keeping the deteriorating 1923 bridge open, reports the Waynesville Daily Guide.
What came to light during Thursday’s meeting, is county officials may borrow, swap or barter state and federally allocated credits or funding earmarked for bridge improvements from other counties that have neither a need nor the hard cash for infrastructure projects in those counties. […]
“Whether it’s donated, traded or whatever for 50 cents on the dollar, either way it’s a benefit for both counties,” said Jarvis, one of two GRE engineers.
Pulaski County officials learned from Pilcher that Howell County currently has about $250,000 in BRO credits with which it may be willing to part. That county has made it known it is willing to part with those credits, which piqued the interest of Commissioners.
Give Pulaski County credit for out-of-the-box thinking. Of course, the next passage explains why the county is getting so inventive:
The county doesn’t have anywhere near enough money for a multimillion-dollar bridge repair project and Commissioner Bill Farnham has warned that if something isn’t done soon, Pulaski County may have to close the Devil’s Elbow bridge and lose a significant part of its Route 66 history and tourism.
Farnham told commissioners Thursday, while $1 million may get the bridge work done, his first priority is safety.
“Safety is the main thing. It we can make it safe with $1 million, let’s do it. Then we can think about making it pretty,” Farnham said.