The town's 85-year-old bridge is at the center of the debate. Between Miami and Boonville the historic Glasgow Bridge is the only place to cross over the Missouri River. For some people closing the bridge would cause major headaches.

"It would be an expensive burden if I couldn't get some way across at Glasgow," bridge user Becca Garven said.

Garven would have to drive an extra 75 miles every day.

"We're looking at the possibility of a ferry service, a shuttle service, trying to work with the community to try to put together a carpooling system, we're even looking at the possibility of a rail service between Slater and Glasgow and if that would work with the existing railroad," MODOT District Engineer Dan Niec said.

The meeting gave people a chance to tell MODOT what they think of the plans. And it gave MODOT a chance to tell the public why it needs to fix the bridge.

"It was built in 1922 and it's just time for it to be replaced. It's served its use for life," Niec said.

MODOT's two main options are to rehab the existing bridge which would take three to six months. Or to replace part of the bridge on top of the existing steelwork and that would take about a year.

"The actual construction cost is very similar between the two options. The big difference is the inconvenience to the public," Niec said.

Now Glasgow residents must decide if longer bridge life is worth a longer burden now. MODOT will have another public meeting in July to talk about the results from Thursday's meeting. It hopes to close the bridge at the end of the year and complete the project by the end of 2008.