BRIDGE PAVING REJECTED: DECISION MEANS SPAN WON'T CLOSE AT NIGHT

Twice isn't nice when it comes to bridge repair contracts.

For the second time in a month, the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has rejected a Fulton contractor's bid for pavement repairs to the old Mississippi River bridge.

As a result, the span won't be closed to night traffic this year. But state highway crews are expected to make some spot repairs during daytime hours this fall.

That's good news to Southern Illinois residents like Nikki Hadley. The Anna resident is one of the managers of the Red Lobster restaurant in Cape Girardeau.

She is one of five members of the restaurant staff who live in Illinois and would have been affected by nighttime closings of the bridge.

"It is going to save us a lot of driving time," said Hadley.

Nighttime closings would have forced the restaurant workers to travel an hour and a half to get to work. They would have had to make lengthy detours, crossing into Missouri at Cairo or Chester.

Hadley said she is glad there won't be any nighttime repair work for the remainder of this year.

"That's one less worry for now," she said.

The highway commission late last week rejected the $375,147 bid from Occi Inc. The contractor was the only bidder on the project.

The bid was nearly $100,000 less than Occi's earlier proposal, which called for spending $474,105.

After the commission rejected the first bid, the Missouri Department of Transportation changed the specifications to allow for the possibility of more hand work, smaller equipment and less extensive paving work.

But even that change wasn't enough. Occi's bid was still too high, said Scott Meyer, district engineer with MoDOT's Sikeston office.

"These improvements are important," he said. "However, from a financial responsibility standpoint, it was not a wise use of taxpayer dollars to award this bid," he said.

Initially, the plan called for closing the bridge Sundays through Thursdays from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning late last month and lasting for three weeks. But the high bids derailed that plan.

The project won't be rebid this fall, Meyer said.

He said the state highway department doesn't want to close the bridge at night this fall because it would be inconvenient to Illinois residents attending the SEMO District Fair and other events.

MoDOT might rebid the project next spring when bid prices might be lower, Meyer said. Meanwhile, state highway crews will have to make some pothole repairs this fall.

In some cases, the concrete pavement has fallen through the metal decking, creating potholes.

Meyer said highway crews may have to put steel plates over some of the joints before repaving with asphalt. Another possibility is to install the metal plates directly on the road surface.

Meyer said the bridge is safe for traffic. "It's more of an inconvenience type thing for the motorists," he said.

Meyer said MoDOT's patchwork effort likely will be spread out over several weeks.

He said there is no reason for motorists to be concerned about the needed repairs. "If it were a safety concern, we would have been out there the next day," said Meyer.