While preparatory work for painting the westbound Missouri River Bridge in Jefferson City continues, the exact date for when the bridge will close for major repairs could be announced as early as Tuesday.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) officials said Friday that the painting work will require some lane closures on the bridge every day and possibly at night until the repair work on the bridge closes it down.
"Drivers should expect some minor delays with these closures but not to the extent of what happened last Saturday," said MoDOT spokeswoman Sally Oxenhandler.
On the morning of March 19, the contractor was working in the far left lane of the westbound bridge.
"We anticipated some minor traffic back-ups but not to the extent that occurred," Oxenhandler said. "Once we learned of the traffic congestion, we immediately instructed the contractor to stop operations and open the lane back up. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. If we close the far left lane on a Saturday again, we will make adjustments to the work zone to minimize the congestion."
She also said no work would be performed on the bridge during Easter weekend.
Oxenhandler said MoDOT hopes to make the exact closing announcement possibly as early as Tuesday.
"We still need to finalize a few details before we can comfortably pinpoint an exact closure date, though we do expect it to be in mid-April," she said. "We are committed to giving drivers at least two weeks' notice before closing the bridge."
Oxenhandler also said MoDOT won't close the bridge overnight.
"It will take about two days of work to make all of the preparations for closing the bridge and switching the westbound traffic to the eastbound bridge," she said. "At that time, drivers will encounter lane closures on both bridges as the contractor prepares for the full closure."
To get more information and for email updates on the bridge work, go to modot.org/central.