The new $8.5-million bridge being built over the Osage River near Tuscumbia, Mo., was the country’s first stimulus-financed project to get under way after President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Feb. 17. The new bridge will take the place of a rickety steel-truss bridge that has stood since 1933.
In the months before the ARRA bill was enacted, the Missouri Dept. of Transportation laid the groundwork for several stimulus projects, including the 1,084-ft-long Osage River Bridge, which links two sides of the town of Tuscumbia in central Missouri and carries State Route 17. Dept. of Transportation workers completed design, obtained environmental approvals, got bids from bridge contractors and identified the low bidder.