US 69 Missouri River Bridge
Platte County, Mo.         
Award of Merit

Owner: Missouri Dept. of Transportation
General Contractor: American Bridge Co.
Lead Design Firm: Garver Engineers
Design Consultants: Terracon Consultants; HG Consult; Leigh & O’Kane; Foundation Testing & Consulting
Subcontractors: Stupp Bridge; Coreslab Structures; Three Feathers Construction; Columbia Curb and Gutter; Schrimpf Landscaping; Tenoch Construction; Ideker Construction; Emory Sapp and Sons

This design-build project replaced the existing U.S. 69 Missouri River Bridge with a four-lane 2,155-ft bridge composed of a 1,350-ft continuous steel girder unit and an 805-ft prestressed concrete girder unit. It was one of several bridge replacements along the Missouri River. 

The safety plan included daily foreman safety huddles and management observations; weekly project tool box talks, project meetings with the Missouri DOT, safety observation walks and foreman and supervisor discussions; a quarterly corporate safety audit; and insurance safety audits. The American Bridge/Garver (AB/G) team removed and replaced the existing crossing in Riverside, Mo. The project required a new river crossing with four 12-foot lanes, a shared use path, improvements to two intersections and maintenance of traffic during replacement.

Various safety indicators were established at the project’s outset, and the team monitored its compliance on a monthly basis. The team self-assessed a monetary penalty and offered a deductive change order in the amount of the penalty if 100% compliance was not obtained during the month. Lagging indicators were monitored monthly.

The program was successful in that no penalties were collected. Crews completed 169,800 work-hours with no lost-time accidents and no recordable incidents.

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