Despite dealing with changing river elevations and fears of flooding, construction crews have persevered as they inch toward completion of the new Chester Bridge. The $284 million project replaces the aging Mississippi River bridge that connects Chester, Ill., to Perry County, Mo.

"The last piece of structural steel was set in late March 2026, officially tying the Missouri and Illinois halves of the bridge together," Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) project director Brian Okenfuss told Construction Equipment Guide. "Things are going well. We're on track to have the bridge opened to two lanes of traffic by the end of July."

One lane will open a day or two after the ribbon cutting ceremony. Both lanes will be drivable by the end of the month.

The three-tower bridge is MoDOT's fifth cable-stayed structure in the state. It will measure 44 ft. wide, double the existing width.

"It will have two 12-foot wide lanes and two 10-foot wide shoulders," said Okenfuss. "Farmers will no longer need to contact law enforcement to block traffic while they move equipment across the bridge."

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has partnered with MoDOT on the project, which began in September 2023. The Ames Team — a joint venture between Ames Construction Inc. and Parsons Transportation Group — serves as the design-build contractor.

"They provided the best value proposal and met goals of the project, while also providing the lowest bid," said Okenfuss.

For crews, the focus in recent months has been to complete the cantilevered deck sections and apply the final tensioning to the cable stays. With construction moving into its final phase, motorists are having to make some adjustments.

"Until recently, all of the work was occurring outside of the existing roadway alignment, so there were very few traffic impacts," said Okenfuss. "As the project comes to a close, the contractor is tying the new and old alignments together. Traffic is temporarily shifted so all the tie-ins and the roadway lanes are reduced to 11-feet wide."

In connecting all three tower sections together, the contractor performed daily surveys to monitor the leading edge of the span.

"They made adjustments to the bearings to make sure things were the correct distance apart," said Okenfuss. "They rolled equipment out to the edge of the bridge to help refine the elevation. Once connected, they consulted with their erection engineer to determine the final tension to be applied to the cables to pull the bridge deck into the final profile."

Remaining work includes paving shoulders, removing the levee gate and filling the gap with soil. The new roadway has been raised over the top of the levee, so there's no gate required going forward.

Demolition of the old bridge will begin immediately after traffic is fully switched.

"First, the concrete deck will be removed in pieces," said Okenfuss. "Then the structural steel over the railroad will be removed piece by piece. From there, the span over the main channel on the Illinois side of the river will be blasted and dropped into the river. Once cleared, the contractor will blast the remaining section on the Missouri half of the river."

Currently, crews are working to complete the 2-in. concrete overlay on top of the deck panels. They will soon be paving the asphalt approach to the bridges.

Roughly 350,000 cu. yds. of dirt is being moved at the job site. Cranes, tower cranes, excavators, loaders and motor graders are among the heavy equipment being used. Main materials include concrete and steel.

Okenfuss noted the weather has been an ongoing problem for workers.

"Wind has been an issue on multiple instances. It has prevented cranes and manlifts from operating. The river has also flooded a few times during construction, causing some delays while the contractor moved their material and equipment to higher ground."

The overlay and final tensioning are the last tasks crews must complete before demo of the existing bridge.

Okenfuss admitted it will be bittersweet to see the old structure taken apart.

"It's a historic bridge, which is always hard to see go, but the communities on each side are overwhelmingly supportive of the new bridge, since the old one is in poor condition."

According to MoDOT, the current Chester Bridge was built in 1942 and was re-constructed in 1944 after a severe storm destroyed the main span. Through the decades, Chester Bridge (also known as the Don Welge Memorial Bridge) has become less functional for modern vehicles. Although safe for travel, it was considered in poor condition.

In 2021, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved an amendment to the statewide transportation improvement program to fund the replacement project. The main goal was to provide a safe and reliable transportation solution while using a diverse workforce.

With current construction winding down, Okenfuss said it's satisfying to see the hard work pay off.

"It has been a long project, especially considering all of the environmental and preliminary engineering that went into it."

The project, including demolition, should officially wrap up by the end of the year. CEG