New Girders Rise on Pleasant Hill's Route 7 Bridge, Finish Line Set for December

New girders for the Missouri Route 7 bridge over Big Creek and the Rock Island Trail are going in, and Missouri Department of Transportation officials say the whole project remains on track to wrap up by the end of 2026. The update comes as MoDOT Kansas City shared fresh progress photos of the span rising on the south side of Pleasant Hill, where the road is expected to close in spring 2026 while crews rebuild the crossing from the ground up.

According to MoDOT Kansas City

, the project swaps out the old truss-style structure for a modern girder-style bridge, a shift officials say reduces long-term costs and maintenance while minimizing right-of-way and utility impacts, since girder spans can stretch farther between supports than the older truss design. The project timeline was reported by

Tribune and Times

. Crews demolished the original 1948 truss bridge on March 26, clearing the alignment over Big Creek and the trail for the new concrete structure, a milestone documented on

YouTube

.

A Landmark Known as the Green Bridge Comes Down

Locals knew the old span as the Green Bridge, and for nearly eight decades it carried people over Big Creek. Its cultural pull was strong enough that the Cass County Public Library branch in Pleasant Hill hosted a community photography contest in February to let residents capture the structure's final days, according to PHMOmag. The bridge officially carries the name Dr. Fred L. Seevers Memorial Bridge, a detail Hoodline reported last year in its coverage of the project's public input period.

The decision to replace rather than repair wasn't sentimental. The 1948 pony truss bridge is being replaced with a concrete girder structure. That bridge had served the area for decades before its replacement.

Detours and Trail Closures During Construction

The replacement sits between Raffurty Road to the south and 1st Street to the north on the south side of Pleasant Hill, with MO Route 7 closed between MO Route 291 and MO Route 58 for the duration of construction. Northbound traffic has been detoured onto Missouri Route P before rejoining MO 291 and MO 58, while southbound drivers are routed from MO 58 back to MO 291. The Rock Island Trail, which passes beneath the bridge, has faced intermittent closures during demolition and other key construction stages, sometimes without a signed detour, though it otherwise remains open between those periods.

That trail passes beneath the bridge. The trail links to the Katy Trail and statewide trail network, according to background compiled by Wikipedia's entry on the park. Because the corridor is an active recreational gateway, the contractor will install a catchment during construction. The full closure is expected to begin in spring 2026 and continue until the end of the year.

Cost, Funding, and the Bigger Infrastructure Picture

The project is funded through a combination of state and federal dollars and was estimated to cost between $6 million and $8 million, with the work originally scheduled for letting in November 2025 after an online public comment period that ran from August 11 to August 25 of that year. MoDOT lists Christopher West and Doneisha Wigfall as project contacts.

The Pleasant Hill span is one piece of a much larger statewide challenge. Bridge conditions remain part of that broader statewide challenge. The project is also part of Cass County's infrastructure picture.