This honeycombed bridge material could be used to replace the deck of the historic Devil's Elbow Bridge on Route 66.

DEVIL’S ELBOW, Mo. (July 22, 2010) — Local military contractor Jerry Plunkett told Pulaski County Commissioners on Thursday that he still believes it’s possible to put together a package of grants to restore the endangered Devil’s Elbow Bridge on the original alignment of Route 66.

The Devil’s Elbow Bridge is one of the few steel truss bridges left on Old Route 66 in Missouri. It’s one of three bridges that cross the Big Piney River in Devil’s Elbow: there’s the current concrete bridge on Interstate 44, an older bridge on Highway Z that represented the second alignment of Route 66 before the interstate highway system was built, and the original bridge.

Plunkett has previously told the commissioners that more grant money may be available if the Devil’s Elbow repair project uses modern “green” technology to do things such as using solar power and wind power to heat the bridge deck and reduce the need for snow melting salt or chemicals.

“I’ve been working, I just haven’t been reporting,” Plunkett said.

“You need to tell them some of the things I’ve been discussing,” said Eastern District Commissioner Bill Farnham.

Plunkett said his proposal for a heated bridge deck would weigh about 20 pounds per square foot compared to 100 to120 pounds for a traditional concrete deck, saving about 800,000 pounds.

“It’s a good bridge and it’s worth saving, but taking a dead load off a bridge is always a good thing,” Plunkett said.

“This, to me, is just kind of amazing,” said Presiding Commissioner Don McCulloch.

Plunkett cautioned that he believed the county’s estimates of bridge repair costs are low, and said the cost may be about $3 million, and that means grant money is even more important.

“I’m not an expert on building bridges in this area, but I have built a lot of bridges around the country,” Plunkett said. “There’s no question about the support from the community … To make this really work I want to get the attention of people nationally. Of course, Route 66 is very well-known.”

Plunkett said making a presentation on the historic value of the Devil’s Elbow Bridge may be possible on the Discovery Channel, History Channel or National Geographic. He’s also spoken to the man who heads the historic bridge rehabilitation program in Washington.

“So far, it’s been very supportive,” Plunkett said. “This will improve the safety of the road. Due to the nature of the road, I don’t think anybody has been killed recently on the bridge.”

Although Plunkett expressed concern that the Missouri Department of Transportation’s cost estimates may be “a little on the low side,” Farnham said Rick Piilcher from MoDOT will be at an upcoming county commission meeting to discuss the matter.

Plunkett said he’d like to notify television producers as soon as the county makes its decision on bridge rehabilitation.

“There are a lot of dangling ends out there but we are making reasonable progress,” Plunkett said.

In related matters, Plunkett said a military contractor is planning to come to Dixon whose current project is tank tracks.

“For every mile a tank travels to repair those and keep them in repair, it costs $47 a mile,” Plunkett said, noting that a new tank track material under development is seven times more wear-resistant. Another project under development would increase truck mileage by 7.5 percent with an improved air cooling unit.

“Keep in mind that in research and development, failure is the most common outcome,” Plunkett said. “The key to all this stuff as far as I’m concerned is to pick an area of production or manufacture.”

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