Old and new Cape bridges

A $1.5 million federal transportation grant -- expected to boost economic development in Alexander County -- will be used to widen Highway 146 to four lanes from East Cape Girardeau, Ill., to the intersection with Highway 3. The Department of Transportation grant is part of a federal program that supports transportation infrastructure and economic development in the eight-state region covered by the Delta Regional Authority. ...

The funds will also help pay for decorative street lights. Cape Girardeau will build a scenic Mississippi River overlook and add decorative street lights to the city's downtown with funding from two federal transportation grants, city officials said Wednesday...

An electrical contractor is expected to finish installing two new transformers today. Electricians began installing two new transformers Thursday in an effort to get the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge out of the dark. If all goes right, the decorative lights on the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau could shine brightly as early as tonight, some three weeks after they went dark, said the project's contractor and Missouri Department of Transportation officials...

City officials and MoDOT believe they've come up with a solution to the bridge lighting problem on the Emerson Bridge -- bigger transformers. MoDOT announced Tuesday that, after consulting with engineers from AmerenUE, the transformers that have been powering the bridge's aesthetic lighting were undersized for the job. ...

Cape Girardeau city and civic leaders and Missouri Department of Transportation officials want a permanent solution to a reoccurring problem that's left the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in the dark. But at this point, it's unclear why a transformer malfunctioned a week ago today, said MoDOT's new district engineer, Mark Shelton...

For the first time, Missouri's highway map features a photograph of a Cape Girardeau landmark on its cover. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, pictured at dusk, graces the cover of the 2005-2006 state highway map. Missouri Department of Transportation officials unveiled the new highway map at a ceremony Friday at the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau...

It may be early December before the decorative lights are turned on again on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, a transformer was blown in October, turning out the lights. MoDOT says it does not yet know why the transformer blew, but the contractor said the new transformer is in and work is expected to be finished on it this week. Utility work still has to be done sometime next week, when the lights are expected to return...

Demolition work on the old Mississippi River bridge will continue today with two simultaneous blasts. The blasts are set for noon and will demolish the remains of Pier 3 and bring the Pier 2 remains to water level. The work is being done by a contractor hired by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and Aquamsi Street near the old bridge will be closed during the explosions as a precaution...

Remaining concrete piers on the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau won't be blasted this week, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said Tuesday. An underwater blast to remove the rest of Pier 2 near the navigation channel, scheduled for Tuesday night, was canceled because of the rising river, MoDOT construction inspector Rick Lamb said. ...

A small section of the old Mississippi River bridge, including its landmark concrete archway, will be preserved, the Cape Girardeau City Council decided Monday night. After receiving cost estimates from an engineering firm, council members said it would be too costly to save the entire concrete ramp of the old bridge...

A broken part on a drilling rig has pushed back the scheduled blast of the toppled concrete pier in the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau from tonight to Thursday night, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said. No exact time has been set...

Barricaded and fenced off, a well-worn concrete section of Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge awaits demolition -- its roadway now a bridge to nowhere as the once-linked steel spans have been razed by demolition blasts. But Mayor Jay Knudtson hopes this last piece of the 76-year-old bridge -- the concrete-railed entrance at the end of Morgan Oak Street -- can be saved from the wrecking ball that could start tearing it down in 30 days...

Demolition work will continue on the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau on Monday with a small blast scheduled to raze a concrete pier in the river near the Illinois shore. The blast is scheduled for noon. It will be small compared to the recent blasts that took down the metal spans, said Missouri Department of Transportation construction inspector Rick Lamb...

It took two blasts to dismantle the remaining steel wreckage of Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge Wednesday. The initial blast cut through beams and dropped much of the last remaining but partially collapsed span into the water. But a small section of the bridge remained intact, resting against a concrete pier after the blast...

The final blast to remove the steel truss of the 76-year-old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau will be held at 7 a.m. Wednesday, weather permitting, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said Friday. The demolition won't require downtown residents to evacuate their homes as occurred with a blast earlier this month...

A demolition contractor blasted apart a partially collapsed small span of Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge Thursday morning. The explosions dropped the wrecked steel structure into the water on the Illinois side and destroyed part of a concrete pier...

The partially collapsed Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau will take another hit Thursday. A demolition contractor plans to blast apart a small span that has been dangling in the river since a Sept. 9 explosion sparked more damage than expected...

Sept. 16, 2004 Dear David, I presume you heard and saw that the old Mississippi River bridge didn't fall down exactly the way it was supposed to last week. On the riverfront, many people clapped in a kind of shocked amazement when the dynamite exploded and not just one span but three crashed into the water. It was like watching a play where the scenery falls down: unexpected and not a little thrilling...

Last Thursday's bridge blast took down more of Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge than expected, collapsing 76-year-old steel beams beyond the blast area. Spectators wondered if they had been playing Russian roulette in recent years every time they drove across the narrow span...

After being closed to barge and boat traffic for more than 48 hours due to debris, the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau reopened around 1:20 p.m. Saturday. Petty Officer Donald Taylor with the U.S. Coast Guard's Group Ohio Valley in Louisville, Ky., said river passage would be restricted at first to avoid too many barges trying to pass a four-mile stretch of river by Cape Girardeau at one time...

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau remained closed to barge and boat traffic Friday as a contractor struggled to remove the steel wreckage of the old bridge. U.S. Coast Guard officials said the work was taking longer than expected. The navigation channel, which runs near the Missouri shore, had been scheduled to be closed to river traffic for 24 hours after Thursday morning's demolition. ...

Ricky Mosley wouldn't be sleeping on the couch this time around. Mosley, who lives at 137 S. Spanish St., was fast asleep on his couch when demolition crews brought down the old bridge span with military explosives the last time. On Thursday, about 30 minutes before the blast, he was eating a free breakfast at Port Cape restaurant with several others...

A demolition blast Thursday tore apart the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau, doing more damage than expected and leaving wreckage scattered across the river like the backdrop of a disaster movie. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. Still, state and federal officials said the wreckage in the main navigation channel should be hauled from the river in time for barge traffic to resume this morning as originally planned...

Evacuate. That's the message from Cape Girardeau police, state highway officials and the demolition contractor to residents in a small area of the city's downtown near where a section of the old Mississippi River bridge will be blasted away Thursday morning...

Thursday, hundreds of area residents voluntarily skipped their morning coffee to view the delayed 7 a.m. blasting of the old Mississippi River bridge's second span. Amanda Crader of 201 Lorimier St. in Cape Girardeau was not among them. Crader was sleeping, as she typically does until about 2 p.m. But when another span of the bridge comes down two weeks from now, Crader and some of her neighbors will be "strongly encouraged" to wake up early and leave their homes and businesses...

Hundreds of people in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois set their alarms a little earlier Thursday to witness -- and hear -- something much louder than the buzz, whir or chime from a clock. What they came for was a blast, the second in a series of demolitions that are taking down the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau...

Construction crews plan to implode a 314-foot section of the partially razed Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau early today, weather permitting, as work continues to demolish the 76-year-old span. This will be the second blast and the first that will drop a part of the metal bridge structure into the Mississippi River, where barge cranes will remove the debris, Missouri Transportation Department officials said...

For those who enjoyed watching the explosive first part of the old Mississippi River bridge's demolition, the dynamite sequel is on its way and this one is expected to make a splash. The Missouri Department of Transportation has scheduled the second blast to bring down the bridge between Cape Girardeau and East Cape Girardeau, Ill., for Thursday at about 6:30 a.m., weather permitting. This portion of the demolition will take down Span 4, the remaining section closest to Illinois...

Southeast Missourian A contractor has begun preliminary work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge to install equipment that will measure the bridge's movement during an earthquake. Missouri Department of Transportation construction inspector Rick Lamb said the information would be useful for future designs, particularly in this part of the country. ...

Explosives sent a section of the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau crashing onto the tree-filled Illinois shore Tuesday as hundreds of spectators looked on from the Missouri shore trying to glimpse a piece of history. The blast brought down three piers and the metal spans -- about 1,250 feet in length -- that sat on those piers in a matter of seconds...

Demolition crews plan to blast sections of the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau on Tuesday, imploding piers on four sections of the bridge on the Illinois side. The implosion is scheduled for about noon, weather permitting. Officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the general contractor, Midwest Foundation Corp. of Tremont, Ill., finalized plans for the blast late Tuesday...

Drivers traveling the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge lately might have noticed traffic is picking up on the old Mississippi River bridge several hundred feet up river. But no one on the 76-year-old bridge these days is just trying to get across. The dismantling of the old bridge started about three or four weeks ago with the removal of the road deck and the curbing at the edge of the deck on the Illinois side of the bridge, said senior construction inspector Rick Lamb with the Missouri Department of Transportation.. ...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- When the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge opened to traffic last December, the economic impact was felt almost immediately in East Cape Girardeau. Businesses in the Southern Illinois village saw a massive influx of new customers from the west bank of the Mississippi River...

The pallid sturgeon lives at the bottom of the murky Mississippi River, but its struggle to survive has surfaced as an issue in plans to demolish the old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau. Biologists on both sides of the river are working to save the pallid sturgeon, a fish with a long, pointed snout. ...

A St. Louis-based contractor says the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge will gets its lights back on by May 1, but state officials are a little more cautious. Sachs Electric, the St. Louis-based company responsible for installing the lights, is sticking to its promise of May 1, while the Missouri Department of Transportation has announced mid-May as the deadline...

The old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau will be coming down at a cost of nearly $2.23 million later this year, but the demolition company must work around the spawning season of an endangered fish, state highway officials said Wednesday. The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded the demolition contract to Midwest Foundation Corp., doing business as Tremont Foundation Corp. of Tremont, Ill., at its regular meeting in Jefferson City on Wednesday...

The decorative lights on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge will remain dark for a while, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. MoDOT turned off the lights March 11 because water was accumulating inside some of the light fixtures. Stan Johnson, an area MoDOT engineer, said the agency still does not know how water got inside...

The decorative lights on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge were turned off Thursday, and will be turned off for an extended period of time while the Missouri Department of Transportation and electrical contractors try to find a way to solve a water accumulation problem in the light fixtures...

Its opening was a crowd pleaser. Its demise will be, too. Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge, now an abandoned, rusty span, will come crashing down this year. Civic leaders and state highway officials expect the demolition to draw a large crowd...

Kitty Rueseler's Christmas present was well worth the wait. "It's pretty wonderful," said the silver-haired matriarch as she stood on the old Mississippi River bridge with her grandchildren and about 100 other guests of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce...

Southeast Missourian The final aesthetic touch to the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge will make its first official appearance Saturday evening and is expected to garner glowing reviews. The 140 decorative lights outlining the bridge will spark to life during a ceremony from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Spanish Street, a short distance from the bridge...

The ceremony will be private, but the entire community will see the results when civic leaders switch on decorative lights outlining the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge on Feb. 21. The lighting ceremony will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Spanish Street in Cape Girardeau, a short distance from the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge...

In the months leading up to December's opening of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, much was made of what the new $100 million span would mean to Southeast Missouri's economic future with the thousands of new people that would come to Cape Girardeau on the safer, wider and more attractive structure...

Many drivers were going across the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge on Sunday only to come right back to Cape Girardeau, much as drivers did on Saturday, the day the bridge opened. Howard Aslinger of Cape Girardeau crossed the bridge for the first time on Sunday, waiting for the commotion to die down before making the journey...

"It will help the tourism industry. It will make people feel safer crossing the bridge." -- Vicki Schreiber, Cape Girardeau "It will make it a lot easier to cross the Mississippi. A lot of people think it's scary to cross the skinny bridge." -- Carla Anderson, Cobden, Ill....

Here is the prepared text of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's speech for the dedication Saturday of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in Cape Girardeau. By Jo Ann Emerson I am so happy to be here today as we begin a new chapter in the history of Southern Missouri and Southern Illinois. Thank you all for coming...

Saturday's Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge dedication may have felt like an ending, but the project's true completion will come in fall 2004. Stan Johnson, area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said that's when he estimates the last piece of the old Mississippi River bridge will be hauled off. In the meantime, there's some detail work to be done on the new one...

Cape Girardeau's new Mississippi River bridge is named for the late congressman Bill Emerson, who sang off-key in the privacy of his car but was in tune with Southeast Missouri voters during his 16 years in office. Friends and co-workers say Emerson was a down-to-earth conservative who loved gospel and patriotic music and was a student of history. He was fond of quoting the legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill...

From the ant's-eye view, standing on the road some 300 feet below the top of the pillar, the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is more powerful than pretty, more prominent than poetic. From miles away, it may appear that each white cable was carefully painted on Cape Girardeau's skyline. From up close, the canvas turns into a working man's masterpiece, a staggering sculpture of concrete and steel, the end result of thousands of ideas, decisions, calculations and drops of sweat...

The nightmare of crossing the old bridge between Cape Girardeau and Illinois was a vivid one in the mind of many area residents. "I drive 18-wheelers, and I've had to go across that old bridge in them many times," said Bill Hayden of Cape Girardeau. "It was a tight squeeze, trying to stay over as close to the guardrails as possible."...

Editor's note: U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson's chief of staff Lloyd Smith delivered this eulogy on June 27, 1996, five days after Emerson died. Marie, Jo Ann, Liz, Abby, Tori, Katharine, Mr. Speaker, Colleagues and the many friends of Bill Emerson, both here in this beautiful sanctuary and around the area, today I have the distinct honor and pleasure to share a few words about the life journey of our friend Bill Emerson. This extraordinary journey makes this day a day of celebration...

Many gaps had to be leapt to build the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge: 4,000 feet across the Mississippi River, Illinois' initial reluctance to join in the project, different political allegiances on each side of the river, and technical problems with the bedrock that stopped construction for a time. When dedicated today, the $100 million bridge will symbolize the region's commitment to progress...

On a bright September day in 1928, 5-year-old Virginia Kimbel strapped on new patent leather shoes her mother had purchased especially for the occasion and was among the first to look down at the mighty Mississippi from atop Cape Girardeau's new bridge...

Building the project around breathtaking photos of the Mississippi River bridges -- old and new -- the Southeast Missourian has produced a keepsake book today's Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge dedication. The commemorative limited edition showcases 60 pages of full-color, professional-quality photographs combined with commentary from local dignitaries as well as many sponsors' congratulatory expressions and reflections...

Two years ago, Sherry Yaeger carefully picked the name of her home decor gift shop based on what she believed eventually would overtake downtown Cape Girardeau. Renaissance. "I wonder why I thought of that?" she said coyly. "It's a rebirth of the old, mixing of the old with the new. It's renewal. It's exactly what's happening in downtown."...

When the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is dedicated today, Cape Girardeau residents will experience a similar historical moment in time that people in two other Mississippi River towns have shared in the last decade. The Clark Bridge at Alton, Ill., and the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge in Hannibal, Mo., are the two most recently built bridges spanning the great river between Illinois and Missouri...

Unless foul weather changes the plans, three flatbed trailers positioned midspan in the eastbound lanes of the bridge will serve as the stage for an array of dignitaries, including both Missouri senators and the late congressman's widow, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, and their family. Five-hundred-seventy-five chairs will be available for the audience. The public is asked to bring lawn chairs. Standing room will be available...

The first time Ike Hammonds saw the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses was 13 years ago during tour of the beer-maker's brewery in St. Louis. Their enormity amazed him. "You've got to be impressed by something that makes the ground shake when it walks by," the Cape Girardeau police corporal said...

In freezing temperatures last Friday, a crane at the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge construction site hoisted a bucket bearing Dr. Joel W. Ray and two construction workers 300 feet to the top of one of the bridge's towers. He took photographs on the way up to keep from being afraid...

Schedule (see map below) 8 a.m. -- Gates open to the public 9 a.m. -- Ceremony begins at the middle of the bridge with dignitaries' remarks 10:15 a.m. -- Ribbon cutting (bridge cable cut with grinder) 10:30 a.m. -- Inaugural drive/celebration caravan...

For those planning on driving to Saturday's bridge dedication, everyone involved in organizing the event has this advice: Don't do it. Instead, they are pleading with people to take the shuttle. "We can't stress that enough," said Angie Wilson, the Missouri Department of Transportation's public information manager...

Ask ironworker Tammy Weiskittel if it will happen, and she'll cringe and offer an optimistic "Hope so." Facing the same question -- one he's been staring at for months -- project manager Larry Owens shrugs his shoulders and says, "We're trying."...

It would take 85 large pizzas to stretch across the width of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. Not the most technical fact about the $165 million project, but it's one that appealed to 675 seventh- and eighth-graders at Central Junior High in Cape Girardeau...

KFVS news reporter C.J. Cassidy will have the honor of blowing up the old Mississippi River bridge in Cape Girardeau next year. A date hasn't been set, but the Missouri Department of Transportation plans to demolish the 75-year-old bridge in the months after the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge opens...

While the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge's dedication ceremony is still scheduled for Dec. 13, project officials aren't offering any guarantees when the final work will be complete, said MoDOT area engineer Scott Meyer. "We've had some good weather and some good progress," Meyer said. "But we can't say unequivocally just when we're going to be ready."...

Excited about the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge? Want to propose a toast to it? There's perhaps no better means than a Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge shot glass. For teetotalers, there's a bridge coffee mug. But those are just two pieces of memorabilia slipping into Cape Girardeau-area stores in advance of the Dec. 13 bridge dedication. Others include magnets -- at 99 cents, the cheapest of the bunch -- paperweights, can coolers, key chains and miniature spoons...

Photographs of the construction of the Cape Girardeau Mississippi River bridge taken more than 75 years ago contrast with video of work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in a new exhibit titled "Bridge to Our Past and Future." The free exhibition of memorabilia from both projects opens Saturday afternoon on the bottom floor of the H&H Building, 400 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. It will continue the following two weekends...

Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson may have tapped into potentially hundreds of future transportation engineers across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois with his "Draw the Bridge" contest. Several boxes of entries arrived at the Southeast Missourian Jr. office by the Thursday deadline from children ages 5 to 12...

The project manager for the firm handling the construction of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge cautioned area business leaders "about getting too overly excited" about the Dec. 13 deadline for the $100 million bridge's completion. "December 13 -- we're going to get as close to that as possible," said Larry Owens of Traylor Brothers Inc., who spoke at a Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce-sponsored dinner to thank those involved in the bridge project...

Memorabilia from the dedication of the Mississippi River bridge 75 years ago will be exhibited next month in downtown Cape Girardeau even as officials and residents look forward to the opening of a new bridge in December. The exhibit titled "Bridge to Our Past and Future" will be displayed on the first floor of the H&H Building at 400 Broadway. It will be open to the public from 1-5 p.m. on Nov. 8 to 9, and the same hours on the weekends of Nov. 15 to 16 and Nov. 22 to 23...

A proposed Bi-State Southern convenience store and gas station has fueled controversy over whether it would create traffic jams near the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. Neighborhood residents say it will. Missouri Department of Transportation officials don't expect a traffic problem. Cape Girardeau city officials aren't sure...

Cape Girardeau is getting increasingly excited about its $100 million bridge, as well it should. As a result, there is a long list of events related to the planned Dec. 13 opening of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi River. Not only will motorists be glad to be rid of the old bridge, a 75-year-old, rusting structure that will be blown up carted off on barges sometime next year, but they are fascinated by the gorgeous and graceful new structure that can be seen from miles away.. ...

Workers on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge are watching the sky and the thermometer in hopes of ideal weather for the final construction stages. With recent heavy rainfall moving out Wednesday, their focus can turn to grouting the cables and applying a 3-inch driving surface to the center 2,086 feet of the new bridge over the Mississippi River...

The public will get a chance to celebrate the scheduled opening of the new Mississippi River bridge at a variety of festivities this fall including a beauty pageant and a photography contest. Civic leaders and Missouri Department of Transportation officials plan to hold a dedication kickoff Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. to announce a series of events to celebrate the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. The event will be held on the new street approach to the bridge in Cape Girardeau...

No cheers, just smiles from more than 30 sweaty ironworkers and a brief pause for photos greeted the closing of the final gap in Cape Girardeau's new Mississippi River bridge on Tuesday. The work to connect Missouri and Illinois began in the cool, early morning in the light of a full moon and construction floodlights on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge...

Want to make a downtown business owner smile? Mention that the last piece of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is being put in place on Tuesday. Want to make the smile wider? Remind him that the other downtown projects are progressing nicely: The new federal courthouse, the Fountain Street corridor, the Marquette Hotel and the River Campus...

Some were cussing, others were sweating and at least one person took the opportunity to become an armchair highway planner as a long line of drivers sat stock-still in their automobiles Wednesday morning. For as much as 30 long minutes, the drivers sat in the muggy heat as captives to an inspection and minor work on what already has become known as the "old Mississippi River bridge."...

Moving around tons of concrete and metal above the fabled river is dangerous duty, but builders say they love it By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian Each morning, Dayrl Reece's wife, Lisa, sees him off to work with the same apprehensive request -- to please be careful and to make sure he comes home in one piece...

A dream to showcase the structure of the nearly finished Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge by adding 140 lights, envisioned by two Cape Girardeau residents over a decade ago, is finally becoming reality. The project, which is spearheaded by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, allows people to sponsor lights that will be mounted on the bridge. Two large plaques will be visible on the western side of the bridge with names of donors and memorials offered by some...

Federal environmental regulations could delay until August the start of construction on a Fountain Street extension designed to provide a gateway to Cape Girardeau's downtown and a planned arts school. The regulatory delay in securing federal Environmental Protection Agency and Missouri Department of Natural Resources approval could make it tougher for any contractor to complete work by the scheduled opening of the new Mississippi River bridge in mid-November, Cape Girardeau city officials said Tuesday.. ...

Construction crews on Cape Girardeau's new Mississippi River span bridged the gap between the towering Missouri shore pier and high ground on Friday, marking a new milestone for the $100 million project that is scheduled to be competed before year's end...

Construction crews still have more concrete to pour and steel cables to string, but all the work should be done and the new $100 million Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge completed by late this year, Missouri Department of Transportation officials say. Any spring flooding, however, could delay the project, said Stan Johnson, MoDOT engineer. "Most of the work they are doing from barges on the river," he said...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Construction crews are widening the main highway in this town of 478 people, much to the dismay of some residents and business owners who say the $3 million project isn't needed and will lead to more traffic accidents. "I don't think it will help anybody over here," said Floyd Ralls as he mowed his small, tidy yard last week a few blocks from the highway construction. ...

For some motorists who regularly cross the Mississippi River on Cape Girardeau's bridge that is nearly three-quarters of a century old, it's hard to believe work on the new bridge has been going on for nearly seven years. For others, however, the completion of the $100 million Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge can't come a day too soon...

There's no formal lookout over construction of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, but that hasn't stopped area residents who want to get a glimpse of the massive concrete-and-steel structure taking shape on shore and in the river. Even the recent winter storm that shut down work on the $100 million project didn't deter bridge watchers. ...

This winter's unusually frequent snowfalls have some Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge watchers wondering if it can be built by the oft-stated completion date: the end of this year. District engineer Scott Meyer with the Missouri Department of Transportation assures naysayers that it can and should be...

Five Mississippi River bridges in Southeast Missouri will get new inspections as the Missouri Department of Transportation seeks to make sure that its major bridges over the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are safe for motorists. Those spans include the aging Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau, which in recent years has been subject to quarterly inspections, said Scott Meyer, MoDOT district engineer in Sikeston, Mo...

Old Town Cape executive director Catherine Dunlap is disappointed that a street project that she and the rest of the group put so much time and effort into has been taken away. But Dunlap isn't exactly feeling road rage now that Southeast Missouri State is behind the steering wheel of the first phase of the Fountain Street corridor...

With its gray concrete towers and steel lines appearing drawn against the sky, the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge project defines Cape Girardeau's downtown horizon. That imposing figure started to look even more distinctive on Wednesday when new cable installation began on Pier 3, located in the middle of the Mississippi River. Pier 2's cable work on the Missouri side of the river got under way in May 2002...

For 20 years, drivers entering or exiting the Mississippi River bridge in Cape Girardeau have been offered this choice: If they needed a tankful of unleaded, a quick Coke or a pack of smokes, there was Bi-State on one side or Rhodes on the other. But with the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge expected to open a year from now some 900 feet downstream, one might assume that river-crossers would be forced to find a new place to fill up their tanks and that the long-standing competition between the two Morgan Oak convenience stores in Cape Girardeau would be snuffed out.. ...

The giant steel-and-concrete bridge taking shape over the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau moved a step closer to completion this week with 5.8 million pounds of concrete poured for construction of yet another pier for the $100 million span. Throughout Wednesday night, trucks with concrete rumbled across the narrow 74-year-old bridge that the new four-lane span will replace...

Cape Girardeau's bridge project is getting more concrete. About 5.8 million pounds of cement is scheduled to be poured for the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bride over an 18-hour period that began at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and was scheduled to end today, state highway officials said...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- As part of her 17-year job as office manager at Karpet Korner, Mary Martin drives across the Mississippi River bridge six or seven times a day running errands. It's not the high point of her day. If the traffic's not backed up, causing her to wait as much as half an hour sometimes, there's the not-so-fleeting thought in the back of her mind that the 74-year-old bridge may not be in the best of shape...

Tales of rust chunks falling on bridge workers' heads and the sight of a bridge beam held up with a chain -- even though that beam isn't load-bearing -- certainly didn't increase motorists' confidence in the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau...

A Missouri Department of Transportation worker, part of a crew making repairs under the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau, gave a friendly warning Wednesday afternoon as he walked past a group of inspectors and other transportation officials who were waiting near the river's edge for a ride to take them back to Missouri...

A two-day concrete pour began Friday night on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in Cape Girardeau, as concrete trucks began rolling across the old Mississippi River bridge with their loads. A total of 3,800 cubic yards of concrete -- more than 500 truckloads from Delta Concrete and McDonald Co. -- will have been hauled to the site when work ends this afternoon...