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TUSCUMBIA, MO. -- About 400 people gathered on the new bridge at Tuscumbia Monday morning.

The Eldon High School Marching Band, along with state and local leaders were also on hand. Elsie Patterson Yates said the old, narrow bridge, had to go, "In 1931 when i was eight years old, my cousins and I, we came down and we walked on the bridge, it cost ten cents."

MODOT starting building the new bridge just minutes after President Obama signed the Federal Recovery Act in February 2009. Critics were quick to jump on MODOT, saying the money should have gone elsewhere.

In 2009 St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay even called it a bridge to nowhere, "This is an insult to the people of St. Louis and its a violation of federal law and I think they are spending this money contrary to the intent of Congress."

But Monday, MODOT Commissioner Grace Nichols defended the project saying MODOT made the right choice. She said, “I'm the one who got all the flack from Mayor Slay and others, and all I said to them was this is a really good project."

Senator-Eelect Mike Kehoe said closing the bridge all together was not an option. He said, “I can tell you from using the bridge personally to haul cattle across it, this is something that was soarly needed, it was very unsafe, the old bridge, and its really a connection point across the river for miller county."

The bridge cost $8.3 million and contributed about $1 million dollars in payroll to the local economy.