ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A headache for drivers is now a headache for MoDOT and their contractor.
The long-term project replacing 26 bridges along I-55 in South City and South County won't be finished by the planned completion date of Dec. 1, 2024, MoDOT announced Thursday.
KCI Construction, the contractor working on the project damaged girders supporting a bridge over a rail line north of Germania during the demolition of the road surface in October.
That bridge was damaged when contractor working on the I-55 bridge project removed the road surface in a way that damaged the support girders.
MoDOT says KCI Construction is being held responsible for the damage and potential delays.
"We hold our contractor responsible for the demolition practices that they perform," said MoDOT District Bridge Engineer Joe Molinaro. "They were expected to monitor the work to insure they weren't going to damage what was intent to be in place."
Molinaro says the damage was unexpected.
"The newer standards that we build bridges to have thicker girders," said Molinaro. "We think that was a contributing factor in the contractor not realizing they were causing the damage as he was breaking it due to the thinner girder."
Replacement girders could take more than six months to design, fabricate and deliver and it is unclear the cost of them.
"Right now, we don't know what the cost of the new girders will be," said MoDOT Assistant District Engineer Tom Evers. "As we discover the damage,
we're still working on the design of those new girders to determine what those cost could be."
MoDOT says those long stretches of Interstate 55 with only two lanes in either direction could now last well into 2025.