Finishing the frame

No cheers, just smiles from more than 30 sweaty ironworkers and a brief pause for photos greeted the closing of the final gap in Cape Girardeau's new Mississippi River bridge on Tuesday.

The work to connect Missouri and Illinois began in the cool, early morning in the light of a full moon and construction floodlights on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

Steel girders had to be lowered into place before the morning sun caused the bridge's metal frame to expand and make the gap too narrow, construction officials said.

Shortly after 6 a.m., with the sun peeking over the horizon, barge cranes lowered two 3,700-pound, 6-foot-long steel girders in place to close the gap. Ironworkers, wearing safety harnesses, spent the next several hours high above the river on metal ladders and narrow wooden platforms hammering in bolts to secure the girders.

By 1 p.m., a nearly 100-foot-long steel floor beam was lowered by a barge crane between the girders. Ironworkers hammered bolts in place to secure it as highway officials from Missouri and Illinois looked on.

American and Canadian flags fluttered in the breeze atop the beam, which also was decorated with a banner proclaiming "Iron Workers Local 782, Paducah, Ky.," and banners for the Missouri Department of Transportation and Traylor Brothers, the Evansville, Ind., contractor erecting the four-lane bridge. The ironworkers union represents members in both the United States and Canada.

Workers posed for a group photo before the beam was lowered the final few feet into place.

No whistles sounded as occurred 75 years ago during construction of the existing, narrow steel bridge when workmen slipped the last span in place linking Cape Girardeau to Illinois.

But the lack of fanfare Tuesday didn't make it any less of a milestone, workers said.

"It is finally one bridge, and that's kind of a big deal," said Rick Lamb, senior construction inspector for MoDOT, after the girders on the north and south sides were lowered into place.

Scott Meyer, MoDOT district engineer, said the connection was a watershed moment in the $100 million project that's been in various stages of construction for the past seven years.

"Not only is it a milestone, but it is symbolic of everything coming together," Meyer said as he watched a few feet from the edge of the gap.

Larry Owens, project manager for Traylor Brothers, calmly watched the flurry of activity. "It's a big day, but there's still a lot to do," he said.

There are more huge, precast concrete blocks to install on the steel frame and a concrete driving surface that will have to be poured on top of it.

The bridge won't be finished until late this year and even that is questionable, Owens said.

The white diagonal pipes that house the steel cables that hold up the main span of the bridge must be filled with grout. That won't happen until the end of the project, and it can't be done when the temperature is less than 45 degrees, he said.

"We are at the mercy of temperatures," Owens said.

Still, MoDOT officials said they remain optimistic the bridge will be finished by year's end.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123