KANSAS CITY — A long-time New York City joke is about the gullible country yokel who buys the Brooklyn Bridge. But the Missouri Eepartment of Transportation is serious – they want to give you a couple of bridges, plus some money to take them off their hands. However, the Kansas City Star reports that there’s a catch. You have to move the two half-mile-long steel bridges from their locations spanning the Missouri River between Wyandotte County in Kansas and Platte County, Missouri. The Platte Purchase and Fairfax bridges, which carry U.S. 69 traffic, are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places,and federal law requires the state to offer them for reuse and relocation as an alternative to having them demolished. MoDOT’s Toni Prawl told the Star the bridges are historically significant in part because of their truss design. Because of their length, relocating the bridges would be a colossal project. Missouri would offer whoever moves them up to 80 percent of what it would cost to demolish them. Given their sizes, Prawl said the state would even be willing to sell intact parts of the bridges if no one wants the whole bridges. You have until May 23 to claim your free bridges.
Tuesday, March 25, 4 p.m.
