CONTRACT LET TO RENOVATE CHESTER BRIDGE

CHESTER, Ill. -- The on-again, off-again project to repaint and renovate the Chester bridge over the Mississippi River is on again.

Work could start by Dec. 2, a Missouri Department of Transportation spokesman said Wednesday. But an actual start-up date remains uncertain.

The Chester bridge links Illinois Route 150 in Randolph County with Missouri Route 51 in Perry County.

"We let the contract earlier this month," said Bob Simpson of the Missouri Department of Transportation at Sikeston. "A pre-construction meeting will be held in the near future."

The $4.66 million project will involve waterproofing the entire bridge deck after deteriorated areas are repaired or replaced.

The job also involves sandblasting and repainting of all structural steel and guardrails.

Painting and rehabilitation work on the bridge has been discussed off and on since 1990, when the project was first delayed for lack of technology to dispose of old lead paint particles at a feasible cost.

Global Construction Inc., of Holiday, Fla., is the primary contractor for the project. Work will be done under the supervision of the Missouri Department of Transportation's project office at Park Hills.

Dale Kinneman of the Park Hills office said the entire project could take from nine months to a year.

"The contract calls for 100 working days," said Kinneman. "But the weather will be a factor as far as the actual amount of time it will take to complete the work.

While the work is in progress traffic over the two-lane bridge will be reduced to a single lane. Temporary traffic signals will regulate the movement of traffic across the bridge.

"This will slow traffic at peak times," said Scott Meyer, the department's district engineer at Sikeston. "As many as 6,000 cars pass over the bridge every day."

The Chester bridge has been in existence for more than 50 years. It was completed in August 1942, but remained open less than two years.

In July 1944, the main span of the bridge was destroyed by a tornado. The reconstructed bridge was reopened to traffic in September 1946.

It was operated by the city of Chester as a toll bridge until Jan. 1, 1989, when Missouri agreed to take over operation and maintenance of the span.

The old toll house on the Illinois side of the river was removed in 1993.

Repainting and renovation of the span has been broached a number of times: in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993.

In 1990, it was estimated that the total cost of the project would have been $5 million to $6 million because of lead disposal methods at that time.

Tests in 1990 revealed that the amount of lead particles in sand-blasted material on the bride exceeded acceptable U.S. Environmental Protection Administration and Missouri Department of Natural Resources levels. The EPA and DNR requires the collection and disposal of lead-based paint chips.

"Contractors will have to adhere to EPA and DNR guidelines on the 1996-97 project," said Kinneman. "They will have to collect the lead waste and recycle it."