MoDOT to unveil preferred route for Ramsey Creek Bridge

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com The Ramsey Creek Bridge project may help relieve congestion at the Scott City I-55 interchange. [Click to enlarge]

The Missouri Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting Thursday to inform residents about a preferred route for the Ramsey Creek Bridge project in Scott City, according to a MoDOT news release.

MoDOT's last public meeting on the project was in September, when the agency took input from Scott City residents about where the proposed Ramsey Creek Bridge and its connecting roads should go. The bridge and the project's companion road will connect Scott City's residential south to its industrial north, now separated by undeveloped land and Ramsey Creek, bypassing Interstate 55.

The meeting, from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall, 215 Chester St. in Scott City, will be the first time MoDOT has publicly unveiled a preferred route for the project, which has been under environmental study for several months.

No formal presentation will be made, but MoDOT personnel will be on hand to discuss the project one-on-one.

"When we met with residents late last year, we basically had an empty map," MoDOT project manager Eric Krapf said in the news release. "We wanted to go over possibilities while visiting with folks during the meeting. As a result of that input, we now have a preferred route for the Ramsey Creek Bridge and outer road extension."

The concept for the project was first talked about decades ago, but federal funds earmarked in 2005 allowed planning to finally begin.