The Missouri Department of Transportation has opened the 500th bridge completed under a program to fix or replace 802 of the state’s worst bridges.
The U.S. 61 bridge over Apple Creek in southeast Missouri’s Perry County was opened to traffic on Tuesday.
Transportation officials say the program is more than a year ahead of schedule and will probably be completed by the end of 2012. The agency says on average, it’s been opening more than one bridge per day this year.