Central Missouri bridge to be named after Blunt

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Efforts to call a significant bridge in mid-Missouri after outgoing U.S. Senator Roy Blunt made it to the governor earlier than session concluded.

HB 1738 would identify the bridge on Freeway 54 crossing the Missouri River between Cole and Callaway counties after the longtime Republican legislator. 

Blunt is retiring this 12 months, after greater than a decade of serving as a U.S. senator, leaving his seat open to a extremely contested Republican main race.

The pair of by arch truss bridges opened within the early Nineteen Nineties and are an vital a part of journey by Jefferson Metropolis. The bridge is the primary entrance to the state’s capital metropolis from the north. Two main highways, Freeway 54 and Route 63, each span the bridge and into the town. The bridge is a necessary a part of journey to a number of elements of the state, together with Lake of the Ozarks and Rolla. 

The bridge has been identified merely because the Jefferson Metropolis bridge. The invoice stipulated the brand new signage dictating the identify will likely be funded by non-public donation if the invoice is signed into regulation. 

The naming is considered one of many to come back out of HB 1738, which additionally designates names for different stretches of infrastructure in addition to dedicating sure months and days to varied causes. 

Blunt beforehand served as Missouri’s secretary state and as a consultant of Missouri’s seventh district. He was named The Missouri Occasions’ Statesman of the 12 months earlier this 12 months. 

Whereas within the Senate, Blunt was a excessive rating Republican and served on quite a few committees as a rating member. 

This isn’t the primary piece of vital infrastructure to be named after Blunt. In October 2021, the College of Missouri Columbia’s NextGen Precision Well being Institute was named after him as properly. 

The part of HB 1738 devoted to the naming of the bridge is present in HB 2627, which is quickly to be signed by the governor as properly.