CREIGHTON, Mo. - The Route B bridge over Knob Creek southeast of Creighton will close July 13 so that contractors can replace the deck and reopen the route as soon as possible as part of MoDOT's Safe & Sound bridge repair program.

Repairs to the Route B Bridge over Knob Creek are scheduled to begin Monday, July 13. The Route B Bridge over Knob Creek is scheduled to reopen by late August. Detours will be posted for local traffic. It is the third of four MoDOT bridges in Cass County to be repaired through the Safe & Sound program this year. MoDOT has completed and re-opened Route O over the Grand River five miles south of Freeman, and currently is working on Route O over Poney Creek in Freeman.

Detours for these projects can be found on the MoDOT Website by going to http://www.modot.org/kansascity/QuickStartList.htm and clicking on the Cass County detours.

These bridges are among 19 in Cass County and more than 800 throughout Missouri to be repaired or replaced in the next five years through MoDOT's Safe & Sound bridge program. Closing these bridges lets the contractor complete the work quickly and get the bridges back open faster. It also keeps costs down, saving your taxpayer money.

Full closures reduce cost by minimizing the need for additional right of way and for costly temporary construction. Every bridge that's closed during construction allows us to work on another bridge in need of attention.

There are 10,249 bridges in the Missouri state highway system - 7th largest total nationwide. Approximately 1,100 of them are in poor/serious condition. The Safe & Sound Initiative will address most of these ailing bridges.