Blunt: I-70 bridge in mid-Missouri’s Rocheport has national impact

Missouri’s senior senator says the planned new $240-million I-70 Rocheport bridge project has received the largest competitive grant ever received by the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) led the bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill for the federal funding.

“We got a substantial amount of all the money that went to the country in those grants, that made that $81 million possible,” Blunt tells 939 the Eagle.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in October in Rocheport. The current bridge was built in 1960. More than 12-million vehicles cross the bridge every year, including 3.6-million trucks.

“If there was ever a project of national significance in terms of highways, that bridge should be part of it. So much of the commerce and trade and travel of our country goes over that bridge both ways every single day,” Blunt says.

MoDOT plans two new bridges at Rocheport, and will also have high-friction surface treatment and pavement sensors to reduce weather-related incidents.