ILLINOIS WILL BEGIN ASPHALT WORK TODAY ON RAISED SECTIONS OF ROUTES 3, 146

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- The Illinois Department of Transportation says lengthy delays can be expected for the next three weeks when work begins today to blacktop raised sections of Route 3 and 146 between East Cape Girardeau and McClure.

When the asphalt paving is going on during the daylight hours, there will be one-way traffic along Route 146, and motorists can expect delays of 45 minutes to one hour, said Bill Stout, operations engineer for department's Carbondale office.

Stout said a temporary asphalt pavement will be put down for the winter months. "Next summer, we'll come back and put down a permanent asphalt surface," he added.

The paving contract was awarded Wednesday to Southern Illinois Asphalt of Mt. Vernon, Ill. Stout said 11,400 feet of Route 146, between East Cape and the Route 3-146 junction, will be paved. On Route 3, 2,890 feet of raised highway will be paved between the Route 3-146 junction and McClure.

As soon as the water has receded from the highway, Stout said the 10,700 feet of Route 3, from the Route 3-146 junction, south to the levee, near Gale, will be paved.

Said Stout, "The contractor plans to start at East Cape because the asphalt will be coming from the plant in Cape Girardeau. They'll work eastward towards McClure."

Stout said the section of Route 3, between the Route 3-146 junction and the levee, will remain closed to traffic until the asphalt paving is completed.

Sections of the two highways were raised this summer and fall as surface water and seepwater continued to rise inside the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District.

In late September, IDOT dump an additional 19,000 tons of rock on flooded sections of the two highways to keep them above the rising water level. That project caused delays of over one hour for several days and resulted in lengthy backup of traffic on the Mississippi River bridge.

IDOT has ten pumps working around the clock to pump the surface water into the river. On Monday, all of the drains under the levee were opened, allowing the water level along Route 146 to drop six inches by Thursday.

Stout cautioned motorists who travel over Route 146 between East Cape and the Route 3-146 junction to obey the 20 mph speed limit. "If for any reason you run off the highway, the water is several feet deep on either side," he warned.