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St. Louis closes Columbia Avenue bridge until at least 2024

The city does not have the money to replace the bridge right now so they will have to wait until they can get federal funds.

ST. LOUIS — The City of St. Louis closed the Columbia Avenue bridge just west of Tower Grove Park after an unscheduled inspection on Monday.

The St. Louis City Board of Public Service said the bridge, which was built in 1913, will remain closed until the city can get federal funds to replace it. The department said that will take until at least 2024.

The board said the bridge had a weight restriction starting in 2006, but it was difficult to police. They also said semi-trucks continued to use the bridge despite the restriction.

A 5 On Your Side investigation found that the Columbia Avenue bridge was the worst in St. Louis. At the time of the 2017 investigation, more than 4,000 cars used it every day.

"I don't think you can rehab this," civil engineer Amy McLaren said at the time. "I do not think this bridge can be fixed."

The city was hoping the bridge would last until they could come up with a replacement for both it and bridge on Southwest Avenue.

“We’re going to do a complete removal of both bridges and put one bridge back on its place along it’s Southwest alignment,” said Richard Bradley, the Board of Public Safety President.

RELATED: STL bridges are literally crumbling

There are 15 bridges in the city that are known to be structurally deficient:

  1. Sulpher Avenue over River Des Peres
  2. Holly Hills Drive over railroad
  3. Grand Drive over Metrolink
  4. Hamilton Ave Over Metrolink
  5. Laurel Street and Waterman Blvd over MetroLink
  6. Grand Drive over Forest Park Pkwy
  7. Gravois Ave underpass
  8. Grand Avenue over the Union Pacific Railroad
  9. Columbia Ave over railroad
  10. Southwest Ave over railroad
  11. Kingshighway over MetroLink
  12. Lindell and Union over MetroLink
  13. Compton Ave over Mill Creek
  14. Tucker Avenue over Mill Creek
  15. Lindell and Union over Forest Park Parkway

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