CONTRACTOR AWAITS GO-AHEAD ON CENTER PIER WORK FOR BRIDGE

Once Flat Iron Structures Co. gets the go-ahead, it will be full steam ahead on bridge work in the middle of the Mississippi River.

"We're ready," said Matt Girard, project manager for the construction company, which holds the $50,854,029 contract for the cable-stay section of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge being built at Cape Girardeau.

Work on the Pier 3 in the middle of the river is at a standstill because of some weak conditions in the rock directly beneath the Pier 3 site.

Several cores already have been drilled to determine the consistency of rock layers, but "we're still looking at 10 more core drillings," said Randy Hitt, area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

"We won't have to rebid the project," said Scott Meyer, the department's District 10 engineer at Sikeston.

Typically what happens in a situation like this is that negotiations are held with the existing contractor for a price change order, said Meyer.

"But we're not at that point yet," said Meyer. "And we don't have a timetable for it. We're still looking at what we have. We want to obtain more information about the existing rock condition before determining what can be done."

Involved in the negotiations for price changes will be the contractor, design consultants, the Federal Department of Transportation, and the Missouri Department of Transportation, said Meyer.

This is a critical element of the bridge but the engineers say with some modifications the problem can be corrected.

Once plans and modifications have been negotiated, construction on the mid-river coffer dam will get under way.

Work on Piers 1 and 2 are continuing.

"We hope to have another 800-yard concrete pour at Pier 2 the last week of this month," said Girard.

Following the fourth pour, the huge concrete pier will be visible to passing motorists. More than 4,300 tons of concrete have already been poured on Pier 2, starting with a 2,700-ton pour in April.

Two more 800-yard pours, along with the 800-yard pour the week of June 28 will represent more than 5,100 tons of concrete in the pier.

Although Pier 2 represents a record concrete pour for the department, even larger concrete pours will be necessary on Piers 1 and 3, with as many as 4,400 cubic yards at one time at these piers.

The foundation work has been completed on Pier 1 on the Illinois side of the river.

Two separate projects in addition to the cable-stay sections will be let later. These include constructing the remaining section of the bridge, which will cross over into Illinois and pass over wetlands in that area.

This work, said Hitt, will be coordinated to complete the entire structure at one time, hopefully in early 2001

"We had hoped that the coffer dam would already be under construction for Pier 3," said Hitt. "But besides the rock problem on the bottom of the river, we've been hampered by high water."