The “perilous” trip over the Missouri River at Rulo could be safer in a few years.

The Nebraska Highway Commission recently approved construction of a new U.S. 159 bridge in the state’s southeast corner.

The commission voted on a design and access control plan, paving the way for acquisition of right of way and other steps leading to bid-letting.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2011 and be finished by 2014.

Public safety drove the need for a new bridge, said Charlie Radatz, co-chair of the Tri-State Corridor Alliance, a grassroots group that has worked since November 2007 to make the bridge a reality.

The existing 70-year-old bridge is too narrow for big semis and modern farm machinery.

“It’s a perilous trip even in the best of times,” Radatz said. “You don’t want to meet a semi going across.”

Some drivers have lost mirrors meeting other drivers on the 20-foot-wide bridge — and others have had to back up to make room for larger vehicles.

Radatz called the commission’s vote “huge.”

“We are absolutely amazed that we were able to accomplish so much in so little time,” said Radatz, who gave his co-chair, Beth Sickel, and Mitch Glaeser, a Falls City real estate developer, much of the credit.

“This is a bridge to a new brighter future for residents of Southeast Nebraska, Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas,” Sickel said in a news release.

More than 1,600 letters and resolutions of support were received for the project before the alliance was formed. Members of the group also made a trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby for funding of the design plans for the new bridge.

“The economic benefit, in our opinion, will be fantastic,” Radatz said. “It is our pathway to the interstate system.”

Interstate 29 is east of Rulo but the narrow iron bridge — which is on the National Register of Historic Places — is seen as a barrier to drawing new industry and business.

Radatz hopes the new span will bring tourism and recreation dollars. People who live in Falls City, the county seat, now must go to Brownville or St. Joseph, Mo., if they don’t want to cross the river at Rulo.

Syed Ataullah, a design consultant for the Nebraska Department of Roads, said  the old U.S. 159 bridge will be dismantled. He said there are no plans to convert it into a pedestrian bridge, an idea that was initially discussed by the alliance.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at (402) 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.