FLOOD-PRONE ILLINOIS ROADS TO BE RAISED

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Approximately seven miles of highway from East Cape Girardeau to Gale and McClure will undergo improvements such as culvert extensions, stabilized shoulders and concrete resurfacing.

A contract calling for flood repair work along Route 146 from the Mississippi River bridge east to the Routes 146-3 intersection and Route 3 from north of Gale to north of McClure will be carried out over the next year.

The $3,132,412 contract was awarded Southern Illinois Asphalt of Mount Vernon, Ill. It is among Illinois Department of Transportation road improvement contracts costing more than $99.1 million for 173 projects throughout the state.

"The first chores are to raise the shoulders to the height of the road and install some new culverts," said Mark Wece of the Department of Transportation, which has established a project headquarters near the Routes 3-146 intersection. "The weekend rains prevented work Monday, but activities should resume today."

Although a timetable has not been established, department officials say they hope the work can be completed by late 1995. "The weather will be a big factor on the time factor," said Wece.

Trucks are expected to start hauling dirt today to start raising and widening the shoulders.

"Once the shoulders are even with the road, we have to raise the road in spots," said Wece. "We want the road at an even level from the bridge to the intersection and from Gale to McClure."

This will require raising the road level in a few spots throughout the entire route, said Wece.

Southern Illinois Asphalt did the paving in both areas -- about two-and-a-half miles along Route 146 and more than four miles along Route 3 -- following flooding in 1993, when the road was raised several inches.

Under a separate contract, rip-rap will be placed on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River bridge from the bridge abutment to the levee. E. T. Simonds Construction Co. of Carbondale has the $221,679 contract for the rip-rap work at the Mississippi River bridge and at a bridge over Lake Creek on Route 3 in Alexander County.

Other contracts awarded in Alexander County include resurfacing of two approaches to Interstate 57 near the Mississippi River Bridge at Cairo and approaches to the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad north of Cairo.

A number of wildflower-planting projects are included in the latest bid-letting from mid-state to northern Illinois along various interstates. Prairie seeding and wildflower seeding is part of an Illinois highway enhancement program. Many colorful areas can already be found along Interstate 57 at Marion and Cairo, and along Interstate 24 at Metropolis.