MCBRIDE SHUTTLE TO BEGIN

PERRYVILLE - A free, passenger-ferry-boat shuttle will begin operation on Friday between Perryville and the Mississippi River bridge at Chester, Ill., the Missouri Highway and Transportation Service said Wednesday.

The shuttle will operate over the flooded portion of Highway 51 between McBride and the Chester bridge in Perry County. The highway has between 8 and 9 feet of water over it.

Freeman McCullah, District 10 engineer for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department at Sikeston, said the service will include land transportation from Perryville to a boat landing east of McBride and from a site in Chester to a boat landing near the west end of the Chester bridge.

The Missouri pickup point for land transportation to the landing at McBride will be the parking lot of the Perry County Administration Building on Spring Street in Perryville. The pickup site in Chester will be announced today.

McCullah said: "The ferry service will operate on a daily basis, seven days a week during daylight hours. The hours have initially been set from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The shuttle-boat service will carry only passengers; no vehicles or cargo will be accepted.

"Tickets will be issued on-site and free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis. Those making round trips will have to unload for waiting passengers. They are equipped with a canopy but are open, so dress appropriately," he said.

The ferry boats are actually two Coast Guard-approved pontoon boats, each capable of carrying approximately 40 passengers. Each boat is equipped with two 60-horsepower outboard motors. The boats were purchased by the state earlier this year for $110,000, and were used for emergency ferry service at Hannibal before being brought to Chester.

The boats will be piloted by employees of the Ste. Genevieve-Modoc Ferry Co.

McCullah said the pontoon boats can only be used in slack water or lakes.

"The boats are not designed or powered to operate in the swift current of the river below St. Louis," he said. "At Hannibal they were used in an area where the Mississippi is always in pool behind a lock and dam.

"At Chester they will be used behind the levee, where there are no swift currents," McCullah said. "At this time the boats can only be operated during daylight hours due to Coast Guard regulations. We are looking into the requirements for operating them at night.

"Until then we are working to restart the `Popeye Express' shuttle-bus service that was in operation during the summer between Chester, Cape Girardeau and Perryville for those people who have to cross the river after dark."

McCullah said the ferry service will operate as long as the river is at or above 30 feet on the Chester river gauge. "Once the river drops below 30 feet at Chester, we can reopen Highway 51 to traffic. Of course, there is a potential that this ferry service could operate off and on for the next three to four months if the river comes up again before the break in the levee is repaired."

On Wednesday the National Weather Service said the Mississippi River at Chester was expected to drop to 36.5 feet on Wednesday and to 27.5 feet by Oct. 13. The river at Chester was at 41.1 feet on Wednesday. It is forecast to fall to 41 feet today, 40.6 feet on Friday, and 40 feet on Saturday.

At Cape Girardeau, the Mississippi was expected to crest today at 42.2 feet, more than 10 feet above flood stage. It will fall to 41.5 feet on Saturday.

The flooding in east Perry County was caused in August when a section of the Bois Brule levee south of McBride was breached by the river, flooding thousands of acres of farmland and the industrial area along Highway 51 between McBride and Chester.