South Old Orchard road reopens in Jackson

South Old Orchard Road in Jackson is back open again after months of construction on two separate projects on either end of the roadway.

At the southern end of the road, near where it intersects with East Jackson Boulevard, South Old Orchard Road has been extended to tie into Old Cape Road East. North of the intersection, a bridge update opened in mid-January.

While the new portion of road was completed enough that it was opened to the public Wednesday, Jackson staff engineer Erica Bogenpohl said the city still is wrapping up the project.

"We have not completed our final inspection yet," Bogenpohl said. "There are a few punch-list items that need to be addressed."

The Missouri Department of Transportation was involved in both projects. The roughly 600-foot road extension was a $570,000 undertaking, while the bridge update cost about $1.4 million. The bridge project was completed with funds from a cost-sharing agreement between MoDOT and the city.

"The bridge was already scheduled to be upgraded," Bogenpohl said. "It wasn't because it was collapsing or failing at all."

The projects followed similar construction schedules. Both went out to bid in June of 2015, and contractors began work in early fall, despite the road extension being hung up for a time on utilities that were in the way.

The bridge upgrade project also included a realignment of County Road 306.

The contracts for the extension and bridge upgrade were awarded to Fronabarger Concreters and Lappe Cement Finishing, respectively.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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