Fenton Bridges Inch Toward Completion

The weather still is the main factor in the schedule for the completion of the long-awaited Old Gravois Bridge in Fenton.

Because the river dropped 3 and a half feet last week, workers Monday were able to build the final columns that will support the new span. The next step, according to Fenton City Administrator Mark Sartors, will be putting the steel girders in place. The girders are expected to arrive the week of Oct. 3.

After that, the concrete can be poured for the new roadway across the bridge, but Sartors says even that will be determined by how cold the temperatures get in early November. The concrete can't be installed if the temperatures are too low.

With any luck, and luck with the weather has been in short supply during the construction life of the $4.5 million bridge project, Sartors said the bridge could be finished as early as November. "If everything were perfect they 'might ' be able to get the deck poured but even that is highly unlikely. Completion of the project looks to be sometime mid-2012 and that may be optimistic."

"Everyone is frustrated by the progress of the bridge," Sartors said. "And no one is more frustrated than me. We should be driving on the new bridge by now, but the river just didn't cooperate."

Fenton's other bridge project, a small span over Fenton Creek on Old Highway 141, is much closer to being done, Sartors said. Part of the roadway has been installed, but another layer still has to be poured. Good weather has made progress proceed at a much faster pace on the Old Highway 141 bridge, which could be finished by the end of the month.