Transportation keeps city connected

By Jake Meyer

The Mississippi River runs wide and deep, but just above it, in downtown Cape Girardeau, the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is taking shape with 13 million pounds of reinforced steel and 215 million pounds of concrete. While the new bridge will change the skyline of Cape Girardeau, it will only be one of the many transportation assets in the city.

The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge

The new bridge is named after Congressman Bill Emerson. His idea was to build a new bridge to replace the narrow, aging bridge built almost 75 years ago, before the age of 18-wheelers. Emerson worked hard to secure federal funds for the bridge.

But, in 1996, just months before the groundbreaking, Emerson died. Congress passed a resolution which was signed by the president, naming the bridge after Emerson.

The project is a huge one for the state of Missouri. The cost of the bridge exceeds $100 million and has had the largest structural concrete pour in Missouri. The bridge will be suspended from two towers that will rise 300 feet above the roadway.

The structure will serve 14,000 vehicles per day and is expected to draw 26,000 by the year 2015. It will be wide enough to serve these vehicles; it is five times as wide as the current structure.

At night the bridge will be even more spectacular with more than 140 lights illuminating the massive towers and cables.

The big question that everyone wants to know is, when will the bridge be finished?

Scott Meyer, district engineer for Missouri Department of Transportation said, "We hope to open in 2003."

The bridge has had many challenges. Foundation problems in the middle of the river and changing contractors have been the largest ones.

Meyer said, "Any time you have a contract this large you will have problems. This bridge has been especially frustrating. Work is now progressing well, and activity can be seen daily."

Meyer said it takes a lot of training and experience to lead a major river-crossing bridge project. It also takes a lot of good people working on the construction.

"The department has many talented, hard-working people. They make my job easy," he said.

A lot of people have asked him what they are going to do with the old bridge.

Meyer said, "We will blow it up and fish it out of the river."

The airport

For those who prefer to fly, the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has daily commercial service to St. Louis, Mo. From there, travelers can connect to anywhere in the world.

The airport also offers charter and private plane service. A number of corporate planes do business out of the airport.

"The airport can land jets, which is unusual for an airport in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois," Meyer said.

For those flying into Cape Girardeau, the airport also has full service car rental to get visitors where they want to go on the ground.

The AB/I-55 project

Out near the airport, on Interstate 55, a project is just beginning that will make the airport interchange safer.

"Currently on the northbound ramp, I-55 traffic has no acceleration lane because the width of Diversion Channel bridge is too narrow," Meyer explained.

A new earthquake resistant bridge that will have an acceleration lane is replacing it. The interchange ramps also will be rebuilt.

Meyer said, "With the congestion caused by the construction, it is apparent how important the new bridge will be in case of an earthquake."

Even though this project won't be complete until 2003, it will be worth the wait.

Railroads and river ports

Besides the roads and the airport, Cape Girardeau is served by the railroad and a river port. They allow businesses the option to ship large volumes of raw materials and new products efficiently all over the world. This makes Cape Girardeau an ideal place for factories to locate.

Cape Girardeau is at the crossroads of transportation in the United States. That keeps the city very well connected.

The city has transportation by land, sky, and water.

With all the new construction now under way, it is evident that Cape will stay connected for years to come.

Meyer is a student at Schultz school. This column was written as part of an advanced literature project.