RULO —  Travelers through the southeast corner of Nebraska see the Rulo Bridge — with its old-fashioned, arching, metal trusses and curving approaches — and  call it historic and quaint.

Ask area residents who have to drive across the 68-year-old bridge and you will hear descriptive words like dangerous, deplorable, obsolete and scary.

“The No. 1 reason for the bridge to be replaced is public safety,” Charlie Radatz told more than 150 people who gathered Wednesday at the Camp Rulo River Club to show their support for a new bridge across the Missouri River.

The Rulo Bridge, one  of six Missouri River bridges in Nebraska, has a rating of 48.6 in the National Bridge Inventory. Bridges with rankings below 50 are candidates for replacement. The Harris Overpass in Lincoln, now being replaced, had a 49.7 rating.

Radatz is chairman of the Tri-State Corridor Alliance, a group of residents from Southeast Nebraska, Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas, that wants construction of a new bridge to start by 2014 or sooner.

They say the bridge, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is too narrow for  big semi-trucks and modern farm machinery. They say drivers have lost their side mirrors when passing on the 20-foot-wide roadway. Others have had to back up to allow larger vehicles the right of way.

“I go across that bridge quite often and I sweat it out every time I cross it,” said 78-year-old Allen Donigan of Rulo in an interview after the meeting.

Monsignor Robert Roh of Sacred Heart School in Falls City echoed Donigan’s comment, saying he fears for the safety of students when they travel across the bridge in school buses to athletic events in Missouri. Roh said he does not know of anyone being killed on the bridge, but he said there have been plenty of accidents and lots of close calls.

Said Radatz: “The time to act is now, before a serious accident occurs.”

Radatz and other members of the alliance say there is a ground-swell of support for a new bridge. They believe they will succeed where others have tried in the past, most recently in 2001.

“We have been passive in the past because it seemed politically correct,” Falls City Mayor Rodney Vandeberg told the crowd. “We have waited our turn because it was habit. But we will no longer sit in a corner like a child being punished … it is clearly our time and the time is now. If we work as three states we will be successful.”

Alliance leaders point not only to the large crowd that showed up at Wednesday’s meeting but also to the 1,408 letters that were submitted by residents in the region. Officials from Falls City; Richardson County in Nebraska; the city of Hiawatha and Brown County in Kansas; Mound City and Holt County in Missouri; and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska are on record as supporting the proposed project.

Radatz said he is optimistic a new bridge will be built by 2014 or sooner. But the reality is there isn’t enough money right now because federal and state road dollars are very tight.

In an interview, Rich Ruby, the District 1 engineer with the Nebraska Department of Roads, said the cost of building a new bridge a year ago was about $22 million, but the figure is much higher now. 

Ruby, who is based in Lincoln, agreed the old bridge needs to be replaced but he declined to discuss funding. However, he said, Nebraska has reached an agreement with Missouri to re-activate the design process for the bridge, but no right of way will be purchased at this time.

Ruby said a route has been chosen through Rulo south of the old bridge. One million dollars already has been spent on bridge planning and environmental impact and corridor studies.

Public safety is the main reason for a new bridge, but the alliance points to other reasons as well, including much needed economic development and tourism.  In addition to a new bridge, the group wants a new transportation corridor that would link U.S. 159 to Interstate 29.

Beth Sickel, vice president of Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise Inc., said research shows that communities nationwide with good transportation corridors have better economic opportunities. She and others say such a corridor could attract much needed industry and jobs and also boost tourism by providing easier access to interstates and other major highways in the three states.

“The Rulo Bridge doesn’t say Welcome to the Good Life in Nebraska,” Radatz said. “Nor does it say put on a show for the Show Me State.”

Mitch Glaeser, owner of the Hotel Stephenson in Falls City, who has spearheaded the effort to build a new bridge, said a transportation corridor could have a big impact on economically depressed rural communities.

“We have an opportunity in this region, and we need to take advantage of it,” Glaeser said. “This corridor will have a ripple effect for hundreds of miles, and the bridge will, too.”

If a new bridge is built, the alliance said, it would like to save the historic bridge and use it for pedestrians.

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