May flood stalls Cape bridge construction

Business Today

In May the flooded Mississippi River idled about 100 construction workers, leaving them waiting for the water level to drop enough for construction to resume on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge at Cape Girardeau.

The bridge project was shut down for about 20 days, but work has resumed.

The May flooding, coupled with previous floods, has pushed back completion of the $100 million bridge project by about three months, from June 2003 to mid-September of next year.

Stan Johnson, Missouri Department of Transportation area engineer, said the bridge contract allows for construction deadline extensions every time it floods.

"The river has to get down below flood stage before they can get back out and do anything in the river," Johnson said.

When they do get back on the job, a top priority is construction work on the concrete pier taking shape in the middle of the river.

Installation of the steel cables that will be strung diagonally from the concrete towers to the bridge deck should begin in June, he said.

Traylor Brothers, hired to construct the main span at a cost of $53.7 million, has been working on the project since June 2000.