Associated Construction Publications/Midwest Contractor – By mid-2011, the more than 100,000 motorists who now cross Kansas City’s 55-year-old Paseo Bridge each day will travel in style over the first cable-stayed vehicle bridge ever constructed across the Missouri River. The landmark Christopher S. Bond Bridge is the centerpiece of the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) $245-million Interstate 29/35 Connections (kcICON) project, now under way near the northeast corner of downtown Kansas City.

The two-span bridge will feature a single reinforced concrete, delta-shaped pylon that rises 316 feet above the river level, and 40 cables radiating in a semi-fan pattern from the pylon. Offering a 550-foot main span and a back span of 451 feet, the 124-foot-wide bridge will initially open with three traffic lanes in each direction, but will be expandable to eight lanes of traffic in the future. The bridge design is also capable of accommodating a future pedestrian/bicycle path along the outside of the southbound lanes once connectivity is established both north and south of the river. [read more…]