NEW BRIDGE PROGRESSING

Construction of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge finally is moving forward thanks to the dry weather.

Meanwhile, planned repairs to the asphalt surface of the existing Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau remain in limbo.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission earlier this month refused to award a repair contract after receiving only one bid. Occi Inc. of Fulton bid $474,105. Missouri Department of Transportation officials said the bid was too high.

The project was rebid with specifications giving bidders two choices: a complete resurfacing or one involving more hand work, smaller equipment and spot improvements.

The second bid opening was Friday. Again, Occi was the only bidder. This time the bid was about $375,000, $100,000 less than the previous bid.

Scott Meyer, MoDOT district engineer, said the bid was for spot repairs rather than a complete resurfacing.

The highway commission is expected to consider the latest bid when it meets Aug. 6.

Even if it awards a contract, the repair work won't begin until mid-August at the earliest.

But construction work is back on track with the new bridge.

Jet grouting work to repair bedrock in the middle of the Mississippi River began in earnest Monday. The jet grouting is designed to repair the bedrock where seams of mud have been found. The goal is to provide a solid foundation for the new river bridge and make it earthquake resistant.

Construction crews began drilling holes last week in preparation for the grouting work.

"Our expectation is to be all completed by Feb. 1," said Randy Hitt, area engineer for the MoDOT.

Nicholson Construction Co. of Bridgeville, Pa., was awarded the $3.9 million jet grouting contract a year ago. Work began last summer, but high water and testing to ensure the grouting procedure would work delayed the project.

"This is the first time this type of procedure has been done in this type of rock formation," Hitt said.

Centuries of erosion have left pockets of mud in the limestone.

Hitt said both MoDOT and the contractor had to test the process to see if it would work. "We worked extensively to refine the process," he said.

The work is being done on a platform inside a coffer dam, which keeps the water out. It is about 60 feet from the top of the platform to the bedrock beneath the water.

About 170 holes eight inches in diameter will be drilled through 50 feet of bedrock in an area of about 70-by-107 feet. Through the drill holes, a high pressure mixture of air and water pushes the mud out. The space is then filled by the grouting cement.

About 15 people are involved in the grouting work. The crew is slated to work 10-to-12-hour shifts five days a week.

The drilling and grouting process is slow. At most only two holes can be completed in a day's time by a single shift, Hitt said.

A second shift may be added at some point to speed up the process.

Hitt said the work needs to proceed while the river is low. "Now is the prime time to be working in the river."

That is true also for work on the Illinois approach. Massman Construction Co. of Kansas was awarded a $25.6 million contract last May for the approach work. Flooding pushed back the start of construction until late last summer.

"We have had five instances we have had to pull out of the river," Hitt said.

The approach work involves construction of 10 piers on the Illinois side. The work could be completed by the time the jet grouting is finished, although it could extend until spring.

A new contract for the main bridge span won't be awarded until the jet grouting work is well along.

A contract could be awarded before the end of the year, but the actual work likely wouldn't start until next June.

The original bridge contractor, Flatiron Structures, completed 18 percent of the main bridge work before it bowed out of the project in 1997 after the bedrock problems were discovered.

When work resumes on the main span, the first order of business will be to construct a pier in the river that would be anchored in the bedrock that is being repaired.