Galesburg has acquired land adjacent to the current Soangetaha overpass. The move will allow the current bridge to remain open while its replacement is built.
The BNSF railroad owns the current bridge on East Main Street. It's between Galesburg and East Galesburg.
Mayor Sal Garza says it is at the end of its service. life.
He says, “That has gotten to a state where it's just limited in terms of the capacity of weight that is safe."
The bridge was closed briefly this year. It is now open to just one lane of traffic so some repairs could be made.
Galesburg will own the new bridge.
Garza says the engineering work has been done. The city also has commitments for funding.
The city will have to come up with a 20% match. The federal government will pay 60% of the replacement cost. The city has put together a number of sources for the additional 20% including money from the railroad.
Garza expects the project to be completed in less than a year.