The Business Highway/Veterans Boulevard Bridge “over Roark Creek in downtown Branson will be closed to both directions of traffic Tuesday, January 17 through Friday, January 20. The closures each day will be from 7 a.m. to dusk. Drivers should use Branson Landing Boulevard as an alternate route those four days.
“The closure is the first phase of engineering work needed to perform a detailed evaluation of the condition of the bridge. The testing and engineering firms will utilize several different methods for checking for any deterioration of the structure. A final report is expected later this summer which will provide the city several options and costs estimates to make any needed repairs.
“Branson Engineer and Public Works Director David Miller said that, depending upon the outcome of the evaluation, construction work could begin in late 2012 to address any identified problems. The bridge was built in 1931 and has been rehabilitated twice since then -in 1959 and 1989.” The initial building of the bridge and its prior rehabilitations was by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The city of Branson assumed that responsibility, along with the maintenance of Business Highway 65, from, basically the east end of the Route 248/ Highway 65 Bridge to its intersection with Highway 76 in downtown Branson, in connection with the building of the roundabout in for Branson Landing,
