Historic Commercial Street

The Commercial Club of Springfield, C-Street Merchants Association and the C-Street Community Improvement District hosted an event Sunday for the public to share their ideas.

Amid a meeting agenda loaded with several bills funding tourism promotion, Springfield City Council voted to approve a local company's bid to renovate the historic Jefferson Avenue Footbridge. The bridge could reopen next year.

The City of Springfield will host the event from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at the Victory Mission Administrative Building, 1715 N. Boonville Ave.

The Jefferson Avenue Footbridge on Springfield’s historic Commercial Street has been closed since 2016. The move came after the city deemed the 122-year-old structure unsafe. Now, with an infusion of funding from the state of Missouri, the bridge could be restored by fall of next year.

The footbridge on historic Commercial Street has been closed since March 2016 due to steel corrosion.

In early March, Springfield officials announced they were seeking bids to fix up the historic footbridge at Jefferson Avenue and Commercial Street. Now they’re extending the deadline.

The bridge has been closed since 2016 after it was deemed to be unsafe.

The Ozarks Model Railroad Association (OMRA) is located at 424 W. Commercial St.

Springfield’s Jefferson Avenue Footbridge closed in March 2016 due to steel corrosion. With a new infusion of Missouri funding, it’s expected to be fully renovated by spring of 2025.

Springfield’s Jefferson Avenue Footbridge has been closed to public use since 2016. City public works officials found 36 percent of the bridge structure just isn’t strong enough to function safely. Now, City Council has voted to seek federal money to pay for repairs.