Bridges
Contractor Accepts Responsibility for $10M in Damages at Missouri Bridge Project
KCI Construction of St. Louis has agreed to bear the costs of repairing a bridge on Interstate 55 that was damaged by a demolition subcontractor in October.
Photo courtesy of the Missouri Dept. of Transportation
The Missouri Dept. of Transportation and its contractor, KCI Construction, have reached an agreement on a costly fix needed to repair 80 girders on a bridge that was damaged during an ongoing $63-million rehabilitation project on Interstate 55 in Missouri.
St. Louis-based KCI Construction will replace both the girders and the bearings on one of 13 bridges undergoing rehabilitation on Interstate 55 between Lindbergh, Mo., and Interstate 44 in St. Louis. The bridge was damaged in October when an unnamed demolition subcontractor who was removing the road surface used a breaker hammer and caused significant damage to the span's structural steel girders.
“KCI is responsible for all costs associated with engineering, design and installation of the girders,” according to a MoDOT statement. "The contractor also paid for an additional crossover south of the bridge, so crews could complete the re-decking work on the southbound I-55 bridge over the River Des Peres."
Tom Huster, president of KCI, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He estimated in April that the cost of repair work on the bridge would be at least $10 million.
“Ultimately, KCI is responsible for fixing it,” said Andrew Gates, a spokesperson for MoDOT. “They can go to the subcontractor [for reimbursement.]”
Neither Huster nor the transportation department have named the subcontractor that caused the damage—and which is no longer working on the project.
MoDOT reports that crews have removed the damaged girders from the northbound bridge and are waiting for new girders and bearings to be delivered this fall when they will be installed. In addition, crews continue working on the southbound Interstate 55 bridge over the River Des Peres and have recently started working on the southbound bridges over Green Park Road and Gravois Creek.
Work started on the bridges between the towns of River Des Peres and Loughborough in March 2023, and was slated to be completed in 2024. MoDOT now expects the bridge work to be complete in fall 2025 with resurfacing to continue into 2026.
“Our priority at this time is to continue to work with the contractor to get the road construction completed and the roadway reopened to traffic,” said Tom Blair, MoDOT St. Louis district engineer.
