BRIDGING THE GAP: ILLINOIS APPROACH NEARING COMPLETION

Illinois approach work for the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is more than 95 percent complete.

"We should be ready to leave the area within a couple of weeks," said Dan Blevins, project engineer for Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City, which is winding up work on piers and girders for the Illinois approach to the new Mississippi River bridge.

The company has completed 10 piers and an embankment structure that is ready for paving since it began work in June 1998.

"The Illinois approach project has gone well," said Randy Hitt, an area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation. "I think you'll be seeing some activity on the middle pier within two weeks."

Massman's work winds up everything on the Illinois side except for a five-lane approach. "We'll wait awhile before taking bids on this section," said Don Bridgewater, an engineer with District 9 of the Illinois Department of Transportation. "We want to plan everything to coordinate with the opening of the bridge.

The bridge should be completed by June 2003, said Hitt.

The middle pier has been a big holdup. It has stood unfinished since the original contractor, Flatiron Structures, bowed out in 1997 after a bedrock problem was discovered. Flatiron had completed about 18 percent of its work when it pulled out under an agreement with MoDOT.

The bedrock problem has since been fixed so work can proceed on the middle pier by the new contractor, Traylor Brothers of Evansville, Ind.

Tests indicate a grouting process to fix the problem has strengthened the bedrock so it can support the bridge even in the event of a major earthquake, said Hitt. Traylor will be moving in equipment soon to start work on a coffer dam.

The contractor will have to complete an unfinished pier on the Missouri shore as well as construct two smaller piers between the middle pier and the Illinois shore.