INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson put a sticker reading “Completed as Promised” on a poster of his Focus on Bridges initiative Tuesday morning.
The governor launched the program in 2019 with a promise to repair or replace 250 bridges across the state.
The bridge taking Blue Ridge Boulevard over Interstate 70 in Independence, Missouri, was the 250th bridge in the program. It opens to traffic Friday.
Parson hosted a celebratory news conference on the bridge Tuesday.
He said Focus on Bridges fundamentally changed how the state pays for infrastructure projects, by using more money from the state’s general revenue fund. He hopes future governors continue to use the funding model.
“When I first come there, we were just so buried in deferred maintenance we weren’t going to be able to do anything in terms of new projects,” Parson said. “I think you can see now we’ve built a foundation, an example for the next governors. All they gotta do is build on what we started. I hope they continue to do that and realize it has to be a priority.”
Parson believes these bridge improvements will help the state expand I-70 to six lanes, a project the state added to its 2024 budget.
Missouri still has 800 bridges in poor condition. Engineers stress a poor rating does not mean a bridge is unsafe.
In August, KSHB 41 and Scripps News exposed hundreds of bridges in Missouri and Kansas have been in poor condition for more than 10 years.
Both states have taken action to prioritize bridge repairs.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law gives Kansas $45 million per year for bridge projects. Missouri receives $100 million annually from the federal law.
