A plan is in place to restore the bridge between the Route 66 Visitor Center and Route 66 State Park just east of Eureka.
Ed Schott, the park’s superintendent, said the $9 million project calls for the bridge over the Meramec River to be turned into a pedestrian and bicycle crossway that will connect the park with the visitor center with the park.
Currently there is no access between the park and the visitor center on 96 N. Outer Road in the Eureka area.
The only hitch is the Missouri Division of State Parks needs to raise $3 million before construction may begin, Schott said.
He said the state parks system previously committed $3 million to the project, and the Great Rivers Greenway pitched in $3 million, but another $3 million is needed.
Those wishing to donate to the construction cost may go to
Schott said he hopes the project could be completed by 2026, which would be the 100th anniversary of the Route 66 roadway.
A meeting about the bridge project was held Aug. 21 at the park’s visitors center, and Schott said 20 people attended the presentation in person and another 23 watched it on Facebook Live.
During the meeting, Great Rivers Greenway officials laid out the plans for the bridge and possible connections with other greenways in the area with trails. Schott said the restored bridge will feature several overlooks as well as some transparent panels to look directly down into the river.
“Kind of like you would at the Science Center,” he said.
Schott said anyone who could not attend the August presentation may go to mostateparks.com to see the plans, ask questions and fill out a survey about the project.
“We are getting a lot of feedback, so much feedback, I have not been able to go through it all,” he said.
The bridge is 1,008 feet long and 30 feet wide but has been closed since 2009. The deck was removed in 2012.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) had set a Dec. 31, 2016, deadline to transfer ownership of the bridge to another party rather than demolish it.
State parks officials said a $1 million endowment was required to cover maintenance costs before it could accept the bridge, and that money was raised before the deadline and the parks system took over ownership of the bridge in 2017.
MoDOT had owned the bridge since 1997, when it took over ownership from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which claimed title to it after dioxin contamination was discovered in Times Beach in the 1980s.
The EPA bought out and leveled the 417-acre town to clean the soil and debris, eventually turning the area into Route 66 State Park.