RECENT RAINS FACILITATE RIVER WORK

A $786,000 contract has been awarded for annual maintenance, revetment work and other repairs along Mississippi River banks from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo to about 12 miles south of Chester, Ill.

Luhr Brothers Inc. of Columbia, Ill., which has a branch office at Cape Girardeau, is taking advantage of high water to make needed repairs along the shoreline between Thebes, Ill., and Gale, Ill.

"In this case, high water is an advantage," said Mike Luhr, president of the company. "We needed the high water to get close enough to the bank."

Luhr Brothers has two draglines going to fill washouts with stone.

"This prevents additional washouts and strengthens the shoreline," said Luhr.

The annual contract calls for maintenance work and repairs along the Mississippi shoreline on both sides of the river, said Gary Hendrix of the Cape Girardeau office of the Corps of Engineers.

The project includes placing rocks (revetment) along the river banks to control washouts and other repairs to other damaged areas.

Corps representatives have established priorities on work needed along the 98-mile stretch of river.

Once work is completed on the mile-long stretch along Route 3 north of Thebes, Luhr Brothers will move just north of the river bridge at Cape Girardeau or a few miles south.

"The water level will determine which area we go to next," said Luhr.

The contract, bid annually, calls for repairs along the river using up to 150,000 tons of rock and stone.

Revetments and dikes and are a critical part of the Corps' comprehensive plan to control and maintain the inland river system. In some areas revetments in the form of concrete mattresses have to be placed along the bank and out into the river bottom.

Some dikes are used to direct the flow of the river. They contract the width of the channel, control the alignment and prevent secondary channels from forming. It all helps prevent the river from meandering and to keep the navigation channel in place.