US 60/62 Mississippi River bridge closed until 2016

[Lyon Wonder]

The US 60/62 Mississippi River bridge at Cairo will be closed for an entire year for repairs and won't reopen until sometime in 2016.

The I-57 bridge is available as an alternative for traffic from IL to MO or vise-a-versa.

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/mississippi-river-bridge-to-close-for-a-year/article_e5b6163d-77ef-538f-8264-bee06a9870b7.html

The Mississippi River bridge connecting the southern parts of Missouri and Illinois will close for a year while crews make major repairs to the 86-year-old structure.

Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Williamsen said Tuesday that the bridge will shut down March 16 and is expected to reopen March 18, 2016.

The bridge carries U.S. 60 and U.S. 62 traffic, spanning the Mississippi River from the Cairo area of southern Illinois to near Charleston in southeast Missouri. Another bridge is just six miles to the north.

Message boards are alerting motorists in parts of Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky to the pending closure and to seek alternate routes.

The two-lane bridge opened in 1929. Plans call for nearly $3 million to be spent on joint and beam repairs.

[txstateends]

Looks like non-subscribers get the ol' paywall treatment; glad you posted some kind of info besides the link, Lyon, thanx.

[SteveG1988]

http://www.modot.org/newsandinfo/District0News.shtml?action=displaySSI&newsId=200491

[SteveG1988]

Some details on what is being done: http://wkms.org/post/mississippi-river-bridge-close-year-repairs

The US 60/US 62 Mississippi River Bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois will close for a year while crews make major repairs on the 86-year-old structure.

The two-lane bridge carries traffic over the river near Cairo, Illinois and Charleston, Missouri.

Illinois Department of Transportation Engineer Doug Helfrich says the $3 million worth of repairs will be mostly similar to those done in 2012 when high flood waters closed the bridge.

"They couldn't do it all at once," said Helfrich. "So this is just the additional work, finishing up the remainder of the four-beam connections and the joints."

Helfrich says

The bridge was closed for a week last year for a safety inspection.

Message boards are posted in Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky alerting motorists to the closure. Helfrich says no official detour route has been designated.  Another bridge is located six miles to the north.

The bridge will close March 16, 2015 and is expected to reopen March, 2016.   

[SteveG1988]

Bridge is reopened.

Contractor was able to finish repairs 5 months early.

[2trailertrucker]

Here is a link to the reopening

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/30228060/us-6062-bridge-between-mo-il-reopen-5-months-early