CHESTER RIVER BRIDGE WORK RESUMES, OTHER WORK ON TAP

CHESTER, Ill. -- Traffic has been reduced again to one lane on the Mississippi River bridge at Chester.

The bridge, which is undergoing sandblasting and painting of steel and guardrails and some deck work, had been open for two-way traffic through the winter, but two-way traffic was stopped recently when work resumed.

Workers who started the $4.7 million project in April 1997 completed about 75 percent of the sandblasting and intermediate coating of the bridge before closing down in November.

"Construction crews are back now," said Dale Kinneman, resident engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation at Park Hills, Mo. "Deck work is currently under way, and workers are setting up for containment to continue sandblasting."

MoDOT officials say the project should be completed by September.

Automated traffic signals equipped with electronic sensors control traffic, but motorists may experience some delays during peak travel hours.

More than 6,000 vehicles a day cross the bridge from Chester to Perry County, Mo.

Global Construction Inc. of Holiday, Fla., is the primary contractor. Work is being done under the supervision of the MoDOT office at Park Hills.

In addition to one-lane traffic, vehicles using the bridge on Route 51, including farm machinery, will be limited to 10 feet in width and 14 feet in height.

Repair work includes removing and recycling the lead-based paint, repainting the bridge and repairing the decking, Kinneman said.

To remove the lead-based paint, workers have to enclose sections of the bridge and blast the paint off. The paint is captured and recycled.

"Probably the thing that slows us down the most is the weather," Kinneman said. "Moisture and wind conditions have major effects on being able to do this type of work."

Strong winds mean workers can't set up the necessary enclosures, and it can't be painted in the rain, he said.

Motorists are asked to be patient while the work is being done.

Once the deck is repaired, the concrete will be covered with a special type of epoxy to help seal the surface against water, salt and other materials.

A number of Southern Illinois road projects are included in the state's planned road repair and construction over the next five years. The state plans to spend $1 billion statewide on the projects during fiscal year 1999. The five-year plan calls for spending more than $5 billion on roads and bridges. The state plans to repair 1,000 miles of roads and rehabilitate almost 200 bridges in 1999.

Among projects in Southern Illinois during the next fiscal year:

-- Resurfacing Interstate 57 in Franklin County and work on four bridges at a cost of $11.4 million.

-- Grading and paving for additional lanes, resurfacing, and bridge improvements for U.S. 45 from Metropolis to Interstate 24 in Massac County.

-- Resurfacing 10.8 miles, including shoulder reconstruction, along U.S. 51 from Makanda Road to Illinois 146 at a cost of $3.5 million.

-- Resurfacing six miles of Illinois 37 from the north corporate limit of Johnston City to Illinois 13 in Marion. Land acquisition, at a cost of $515,000, will start next year.

-- One of the top multimillion dollar projects in Illinois' five-year transportation plan is $45.4 million for its share of construction of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. Illinois' share for the next fiscal year will be $10.4 million.