The Missouri Safe and Sound Project is a design build contract recently acquired by the joint venture of Kiewit Western Co., Traylor Bros., Inc. and United Contractors, Inc., KTU Constructors.  HNTB Corporation, with help from the LPA Group, will provide the design services for KTU.

The project consists of the demolition and replacement of 554 bridges that stretch across the entire state of Missouri.  Every county in the state has at least one bridge replacement and some counties get more than twenty.  The bridges are mostly located in rural areas, crossing small streams and rivers.  Some bridges cross other roadways or railroads.  The average new bridge will be 24' wide and 160' long.

The total value of the contract is $486 million and the work is scheduled to complete in the fall of 2013.  Most of 2009 will be occupied by design but a few of the bridges will be constructed this fall.  The bulk of the construction work will take place in the remaining years with an average of about 135 bridges completed per year.  Some bridges will be contracted out to local firms and others will be self performed by KTU.