The bridge beams are all now in place on the Beaver Creek bridge west of Ava, but contractors say the project will not be completed before mid-November.
Equipment on hand at the work site of the new Beaver Creek bridge west of Ava includes a huge crane towering above the work at the right side of the picture above.
Contractors are now saying the new bridge across Beaver Creek west of Ava on Highway 76 will not be completed before mid-November.
Marissa Robey, community relations specialist for MoDOT’s Southeast District, Sikeston, told the Herald Wednesday that 10 of the 15 bridge beams were set last Friday, Oct. 14, and the remaining five were set on Monday.
She said she has been told by construction bosses that work to set the deck panels could begin Friday, and completion is anticipated by mid-November, weather permitting.
The bridge, eight miles west of Ava, has been closed since mid-August and traffic is being detoured around the work site.
This new bridge is the first in Missouri to use hybrid composite beams that are made of fiberglass and foam, the type of material used to build boats.
An archway within the beams gives the contractor the flexibility to pre-fill the beams with concrete, or to fill them after they are put in place.
These beams will not corrode like traditional steel beams, and are both durable and light-weight, according to Stacy McMillan, structural liaison engineer with the Missouri Department of Transportation.
Two other Missouri bridges in Shannon and Dade counties are to use this technology.
