It's been an exciting month so far as progress continues. Bitterly cold temps and the Mississippi River turning to ice created a challenge for during the holidays and into the new year.  As temperatures warmed and ice broke up, construction crews were able to continue with concrete pours in the shafts that create the foundation for the piers.  While weather may post a risk to progress, Massman Project Manager T.J. Colombatto, P.E., says the project is considered to be on schedule.

YOUR VOTE IS NEEDED!

This has been the "work site" for the last few months, although only recently has ice formed to create a small challenge for crews.  Fortunately, with temperatures warming up, they have been able to pump concrete from the Illinois side on a platform and into the shaft of Pier 5.  In the picture, the white u-shaped pipe is pumping the concrete into the brown casing, which is 11 1/2 feet in diameter, and shows a rebar cage sticking out of it.  This forms the foundation for Pier 5.

Saturday CC Bridge Updates

Saturday, January 27

10 a.m.

120 S. Main Street

Louisiana

As the contractor of the new Champ Clark Bridge, Massman Construction and the entire CCB team, invites the public to come to their project office "village" on the waterfront in Louisiana the last Saturday each month at 10 a.m. to learn more from the engineers and construction workers who are making the new bridge a reality.  "This is our way of keeping the local communities informed and allowing us to meet them, answer their questions, and just keep them updated on the 'hows' and 'whys' of what we're doing to create a new crossing between Missouri and Illinois," said Michael Massman, design-build coordinator of the project. 

Signs will be set out to direct those interested in attending.  The update will be held outside and last about 30 minutes.  In the event of inclement weather, the meeting will not be rescheduled.

The first Saturday CC Bridge Update meeting will be held Saturday, January 27 at 10 a.m.at 120 South Main in Louisiana.

High School Students Involved in Preserving the Past

There is one element of replacing a historic bridge many area residents want to know - what is being done to preserve the history of the old bridge?  Massman Construction is partnering with MoDOT to work with area high schools through a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program and together have challenged students to design an interpretitive panel that includes actual components of the old bridge.  "We just met with a terrific group of students last week from several local schools who are going to compete in the challenge to design a panel that will be housed in the community," explained Brandi Baldwin, P.E., resident engineer on the project.  The students and their teachers will be given guidelines and timeframes to develop their design.  "We will visit with them each month to give them project updates and answer their questions," Baldwin explained.  The winning design will be selected in April, with an announcement to be made during a community event where all designs will be showcased.  She added, "This is a great way to encourage creativity through science, as well as keep our future community residents engaged."

Local high school students, Massman Construction, MoDOT and IDOT representatives attended the first meeting about creating the interpretive center that will be created to help preserve the history of the old bridge.  There are six schools participating in the challenge.

For all pictures of work, go to MoDOT Northeast District's Flickr site.  

The web cam can be found under the Construction tab of this site.