WORK WILL BEGIN ON NEW BRIDGE; PENZEL EARNS LOW BID OF $3.6 MILLION

DUTCHTOWN -- A Jackson construction company is the low bidder for construction of a seismically designed, Highway 25 traffic bridge across the Diversion Channel, between Dutchtown and Blomeyer in southwest Cape Girardeau County.

Penzel Construction Co. submitted a bid of $3.6 million. Penzel's bid was one of three bids opened Friday by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department in Jefferson City.

The other bids were submitted by Robinson Construction Co. of Perryville and the Ben Robertson Construction Co. of Poplar Bluff.

The low bid will be reviewed Friday by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, which is expected to award the contract to Penzel.

Bob Simpson, construction engineer with the highway department's District 10 office in Sikeston, said work on the bridge should begin within 30 days.

"From what Gene Penzel told me when I talked to him this morning (Wednesday), they're going to hit the ground running," said Simpson.

He said Penzel will have only 125 working days to complete the sub-structure and superstructure of the bridge and the approaches.

"That's because we're hoping the new highway bill will get out of Congress before next spring," Simpson explained. "If that happens, we anticipate letting the (second phase) grading and paving portion of the project next March. That means the construction of the bridge would have to be well on the way when the work starts on the grading and paving of the highway next spring."

Simpson said the first phase of the nearly $6 million, two-phase project will include construction of a steel and concrete, 1,472-foot-long, 40-foot-wide bridge. The new span will be built immediately east of the 59-year-old, 1,900-foot-long, highway bridge.

The new span will have two, 12-foot-wide driving lanes and 8-foot-wide shoulders. The bridge will have nearly five miles, or 31,000 feet of steel piling underneath it, Simpson said.

The existing Highway 25 bridge and approaches were built in 1931. It has concrete piers, but the approach span to the bridge on the north side is supported by wooden timbers. Simpson said the timber piles are deteriorating. He said each year the highway department has to replace some of the older ones because of constant exposure to water and the weather.

The second phase of the project will involve construction of 1.4 miles of approach to the new bridge and the raising and relocation of Highway 25 above the flood plain between Dutchtown and the Little River Drainage District's levee, north of Blomeyer. The existing highway has to be closed between Dutchtown and the bridge when the water goes over the banks.

Simpson said the new highway will be moved a short distance east of the present highway. Estimated cost of the second phase is $2.5 million.

Simpson said motorists will continue to use the existing highway and bridge during the construction project.