Motorists who travel Schumacher Road near Hwy. 30 will need to plan out an alternate route, as work will begin Tuesday (Sept. 5) to replace a small bridge about a quarter-mile east of Hwy. 30 in High Ridge.
Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said the structure, over an unnamed tributary of Saline Creek, definitely is in need of replacement.
“We had it rated a couple of years ago, and there’s a 10-ton limit, and that’s pretty low,” he said. “The (High Ridge) fire district refuses to go over it, and last year school buses stopped using it as well.”
Jonas said he would have preferred to limit the bridge to a single lane down the center, but the topography of the area – the bridge is at the base of a steep hill and is near a sharp, 90-degree turn – prohibits that because sight distances are limited.
That area of Schumacher Road carries about 1,400 vehicles per day, he said.
“It’s a well-traveled road, so it will have an impact,” Jonas said. “But it’s deteriorated to the point where we have to close it or replace it, and we’ve chosen to replace it.”
Jonas said the work is expected to extend through mid-December.
Millstone Weber LLC of St. Charles was the lowest of six bidders to do the $405,380 job.
Money to pay for the project will be drawn from the county’s share of the countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
“For those who are commuting to St. Louis to work or to go to Gravois Bluffs, the closure will be an inconvenience for sure,” Jonas said. “There are a couple of good-sized subdivisions in the area. They’ll have to make their way over to Old Sugar Creek Road and then to Hwy. 30, but they’ll still be going north. For those wanting to go south on Hwy. 30, to the High Ridge Commons shopping center and beyond, it will be more problematic.”