HELP WANTED: EXPERIENCED BRIDGE CONTRACTOR

The Missouri Department of Transportation says an experienced bridge contractor will be hired to construct the main span of the new Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau.

MoDOT says it will consider only bids from general contractors who have experience in building bridges on the Mississippi, Missouri or Ohio rivers.

Bids are slated to be opened in February and a contract awarded in March for the main section of bridge work, including the main piers, the cable-supported span, the bridge deck and lighting.

Transportation officials held a pre-bid meeting with four contractors Thursday at the highway department's Sikeston office.

Randy Hitt, MoDOT area engineer from Jackson, said Friday that the state will require that the general contractor or subcontractor have experience in constructing cable-stay bridges like the one being built in Cape Girardeau."We want to make sure they are qualified to do the work," said Hitt.

The state ran into problems with the previous contract with Flatiron Structures Co. of Longmont, Colo.

The contractor bowed out in December 1997 with the blessing of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Both parties agreed to terminate the $50.8 million contract for the main span for the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge because of a bedrock problem found under a pier that was being constructed in the river.

When Flatiron pulled out, about 20 percent of the work had been completed. An unfinished pier on the Missouri shore and jet grouting work in the river to strengthen the bedrock are visible reminders of the problem.

But the bedrock repairs should be completed by February, MoDOT officials said.

The new contractor is expected to begin work by May, with completion in 2003."This is the heart of the bridge," Hitt said, adding that this will be the major construction contract for the project."It is not a typical job," he said. MoDOT has retained some of the construction materials and continued arrangements with suppliers who had contracts with Flatiron.

All of the steel cables, for example, are being manufactured for MoDOT. "We are supplying all of the cables to the contractor," Hitt said.

Typically, a contractor would order all of the materials needed for a project.

The project will include construction work on the unfinished pier on the Missouri shore to extend the concrete structure up about 180 feet, Hitt said.

Construction of the pier in the middle of the river probably won't begin until July because May and June are typically high-water months, he said. The pier is one of four piers for the main span of the bridge and one of two slated to be built in the river. The other two are on the Missouri shore.

Another 11 piers are being built along the Illinois shore by another contractor as part of the bridge approach. Work on the Illinois segment of the bridge should be completed by June, Hitt said.