In Jefferson City Missouri, crews worked night and day for five weeks, even through an ice storm, to reopen a bridge that was destroyed in a fiery tanker truck crash, the Associated Press reports.
The bridge had to be torn down, redesigned and then rebuilt after the Nov. 27 accident on U.S. 54 that killed the driver of a Western Oil tanker truck that overturned and exploded.
The bridge plays a vital role in Jefferson City. It links motorists to several schools and churches and is part of an important route for emergency vehicles. Therefore, the Missouri Department of Transportation opted to award an emergency contract and build in the winter. That meant costs jumped from $800,000 to $1.3 million.
When a tanker truck hauls flammables, safety is paramount. This crash destroyed a bridge. If another car had been involved, it doubtful the motorists would have emerged from the accident uninjured.
