US40 Blue River Bridge

It has a page for the new location. See the Tails and Trails Bridge in "related".

I have found the "remains" of the bridge. They are in a park in Grandview (which we knew). It is about 1200 feet NW of Byars Road and E139th, just on the other side of the river. To give a hint, look for the upside down "L".

Its too bad that only "informal discussions" were had and that a company like Bach Steel was not contacted for a quote to fabricate and deliver replica riveted bottom chord sections. While I cannot guarantee it would have been a competitive cost, it would have been nice to have seen them seek a quote for a replica.

On 15 Sep there was a news conference announcing the official beginning of the reuse of this bridge. The first steel was loaded and transported to the new location.

Informal discussion suggests the lower chords are too corroded to save and will be replaced with a modern rolled section. Stringers will not be reused since the deck will be designed to carry much lighter traffic. Plates will be bolted over the torch cuts on the arches.

This bridge is only able to be preserved because the costs were kept low enough to compete with a MOB. Although not really a preservation like that of Red Bridge (http://bridgehunter.com/mo/jackson/red/), the reuse of the pieces will be enough to allow people to see and get close to the main elements of the bridge as they never could when driving past.

Well, this bridge is now the front-runner for the Author's Choice Award for the worst example of restoring (or in this case, "disassembling") the bridge. I have no clude how the H*** they are going to reassemble it. Sometimes I think it is a screenplay where they claim the bridge will be relocated in pieces but in all reality, they will be hauled away in pieces. Such a shame that they don't know how to take care of historic artefacts.....

JS

I guess the good news is that it's not shredded in a rail car.

Since the bridge is never going to carry anything like its original design load, my guess is that it can be welded along the cuts and restored to its former appearance if not strength.

It's going to depend on how much effort (money) the city wants to expend.

While looking at it on the ground I was able to see lots of pretty serious section loss and a bit of pack rust in some areas. Returning to original strength probably won't be practical.

I think what we will get is a preserved, walkable structure unlike anything in the area. Even if not fully restored it may spur some regional interest in preserving some of the remaining ones nearby.

Clark... thanks for providing this information. As feared, MoDOT allowed this bridge to be improperly dismantled. The destructive "disassembly" of this bridge by cutting materials rather than non-destructively removing rivets to detach bridge parts will result in an increase in the cost to restore and reuse this bridge. In a world where the historic significance of a bridge is usually not considered when deciding whether to reuse a historic bridge vs a modern bridge, and therefore the cost of reusing the historic bridge must be equal to or less than the cost of a new bridge, this destructive removal may have destroyed any chance of this bridge being preserved.

MoDOT picture album showing the disassembly of this bridge:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/modot_kc/sets/7215763449496336...

More on page 3.

Information about the replacement of the adjacent UCEB on I-70 of which this bridge is a small part:

http://www.modot.org/kansascity/major_projects/ManchesterBri...

The bridge was torch cut along lines provided to workers. The metal decking is not still obvious on the site but stringers and the rest appear to be present. Trusses are in three pieces, top braces and floor beams removed in one piece, cut near each end. Cut ends are marked, presumably to aid in reassembly.

Approach spans are being demolished today (Saturday). Although this is not a major artery, there is construction work on the parallel I-70 viaduct going over the bottoms, so having this completed would help with congestion.

Clark,

Do you by chance have any closer photos of the dismantled bridge? I am curious if the bridge parts were removed non-destructively (ie rivet removal) or if the members were simply cut with a torch.

It was disassembled this week. It will sit on the river bank until funds are in to relocate it to Grandview.

Looks like the last car has crossed:

http://www.modot.gov/kansascity/newrelease/District4Release....

MoDOT closed this bridge 8-14-2014 due to "critical deterioration to the structure". Bridge will remain closed until a replacement has been built.

As of today it is anticipated that this bridge will be available to the city in the first part of 2015. MODoT is controlling the schedule.

Grandview has other projects to link recreational areas in the community with trails and bridges. There's a possibility that appropriate historic bridges will be brought in and used.

I learned today that there is a discussion aimed toward moving this bridge to a park in Grandview in southern Jackson County. Although Jackson County has already lost almost all of its non-boundary trusses, the possibility exists for a bridge park as part of the greenway along the Little Blue corridor.

This appears to be one of the bridges MO DoT plans to replace over the next couple of years (this one being the more intersting one). Per this press release: http://www.modot.org/kansascity/major_projects/ManchesterBri...

bridge deck is horrible. Rough ride. not sure if it's been paved yet but in early 2010 it needed it.

I drove over the bridge about 4 days ago, and it really needs a new asphalt coating.

the asphalt is worn down and the ride over the bridge is pretty bumpy.