Along the Mississippi River, between Missouri and Illinois, an important river crossing is undergoing a major transformation. Under a $284 million design-build contract, crews are making steady progress on the Chester Bridge Replacement Project. A unique four-span, three-tower, 2,900-foot-long, cable-stayed bridge (which uses cables to support its deck from towers) is being constructed upstream from the existing 81-year-old Chester Bridge.
The new structure — to be named the Don Welge Memorial Bridge — will be twice as wide as the existing bridge and is designed to minimize risk to navigation traffic on the river. Additionally, the existing roadway is being relocated on the Missouri side and pavement improvements will be made on the Illinois side.
The Chester Bridge — which connects the cities of Chester, Illinois, and Perryville, Missouri, via Route 51 — carries approximately 7,000 vehicles per day. Twenty-five percent of that traffic is commercial motor vehicle traffic. The bridge is the only Mississippi River crossing between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, Missouri.
Maintenance of the existing two-span truss bridge has been a continuing challenge. It is typically shut down for one lane of traffic for some sort of repair or emergency inspection a couple times a year. It is also subject to flood-related closures.
“This major river bridge is vital to agricultural traffic, area industries, and travelers,” said Brian Okenfuss, Project Director at the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). “While the current bridge is safe, it is in poor condition. The existing structure is too narrow by today’s standards. It has two 11-foot-wide lanes and no shoulders, while the new bridge will have two 12-foot-wide lanes and two 10-foot-wide shoulders. The roadway on the Missouri approach to the bridge is in the floodplain and occasionally floods. This project will remove the levee closure gate and will raise the new roadway embankment above the height of the levee.”