ILLINOIS ROAD WORK PROGRESSING, MORE PLANNED

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- The final section of relocated Route 3 between Thebes and Twente Crossing Road will be opened to traffic in early August, the Illinois Department of Transportation said.

Meanwhile, the department late this summer will begin to raise large portions of Routes 3 and 146 in East Cape Girardeau, Gale and McClure. Included in the project is the Route 3-146 intersection between McClure and East Cape Girardeau.

Also included in Illinois road improvement projects for the 1994-95 fiscal year is the first phase of earthwork for the relocated Route 146, which will extend from the west end of East Cape Girardeau to the levee, where it will tie into a new Mississippi River bridge.

Bob Zieba, department engineer at Carbondale, said, "We anticipate the new section of Highway 3 will be opened Aug. 1, if the weather allows the contractor to stay on schedule.

"The entire stretch of new highway has now been covered with a sub-coat of asphalt. The contractor is in the process of adding additional layers of asphalt that will bring the total depth of the asphalt road surface to a thickness of 15 inches."

Becky Schafer, department resident engineer in charge of the Thebes highway project, said in one to two weeks traffic between Thebes and Twente Crossing Road will be limited to one-way where the contractor is closing the three transition locations.

The Route 3 relocation project began in the mid-1980s. The first phase included relocation of the new highway along an old railroad right-of-way between Gale and the north edge of Thebes. From there the highway was built through a large cut in a hill southeastward to the intersection of the old Route 3.

The second phase is the stretch between Thebes and Twente Crossing Road. Zieba said last year's flood problems and wet weather have delayed work on that section.

The relocated Route 3 replaces several miles of obsolete, twisting, hilly roadway with limited vision between Olive Branch and Twente Crossing Road.

Zieba said the Route 3-146 work will raise both highways and the intersection an additional 3 feet above the predicted 50-year project flood. Cost of the project is estimated at $3.3 million.

The project is designed to eliminate highway flooding that has occurred several times over the past 20 years when surface water backs up inside the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District.

The most recent highway flooding was last year. Water trapped inside the levee backed onto Routes 3 and 146. Eventually, the department was forced to undertake an emergency construction program to raise both highways in several locations. Route 3 south of the intersection was closed most of last summer because of the high water.

Zieba said, "In addition to raising both highways, we'll also raise the intersection an additional 8 inches.

"We anticipate letting the contract in August. Work will begin as soon as possible and continue through the fall and winter as weather permits. Completion should be some time next spring."

"We ask everyone to be patient and bear with us. When the work is completed, it should eliminate future highway flooding from stormwater and seepwater backup."

The relocated Route 146-Mississippi River bridge project is expected to begin in spring 1995, Zieba said. The project will cost $526,000.

Zieba said as the new river bridge nears completion toward the end of this century the roadway on the dirt embankment will be paved to link it with the east approach to the bridge.

A seismic retrofit of several bridges over I-57 in Union, Pulaski, and Alexander counties also is included in Southern Illinois road projects. The retrofit of overpass bridges on I-57 and estimated costs include: bridge over Route 3 north of Cairo, $400,000; bridge over the Illinois Central Railroad tracks north of Cairo, $2 million; Cache River bridge four miles south of Union-Alexander county line, $340,000; and Little Creek Bridge one and one-half miles south of Union-Alexander county line, $340,000.

Zieba said the work will involve upgrading the bridges to withstand a strong earthquake. The bridges are along the north end of the New Madrid seismic zone.

"The contractor will remove the existing metal rockers that support the bridge deck on the bridge piers and replace them with rubberized material that will absorb the shaking energy of the earthquake. It will allow the beams to flex with the bridge without falling," he explained.

Zieba said no I-57 interchange bridges will be retrofitted. "If the interchange bridges are damaged, we can still divert traffic around the off and on ramps, but if the other bridges we are retrofitting were damaged, it would block the flow of traffic on I-57."