Improvements being made to the bridge that connects J Highway to Fort Wood is scheduled for a late January completion

Officials with Fort Leonard Wood’s Directorate of Public Works are saying the improvements being made to the bridge that connects J Highway to the installation just outside the East Gate is scheduled for a late January completion. Of Course, the East Gate remains closed while the work continues. According to J.D. Bales, chief of the DPW Engineering Design Branch, work is currently being done to complete construction of the bridge superstructure, with the placement of the deck — essentially, the surface of the bridge — set to begin in early December. Workers were initially tasked back in 2021, to mill and resurface the asphalt deck while also sealing the underlying concrete on the 420-foot-long bridge, but the scope of the project changed when officials noticed the amount of deteriorating concrete underneath, Bales said. Bales said the plan then had to be altered to include removing the deteriorating concrete and replacing it. The method of repairs that have been selected for the bridge should be able to be maintained with very little impact on traffic in the future.