SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Work is scheduled to begin next week on setting girders for the new Diversion Channel bridge on northbound Interstate 55 at the Route AB exit.

"We will have to stop traffic for 10 to 15 minutes at a time on the northbound interstate ramp while the procedure is under way," said Bob Wilson, Missouri Department of Transportation resident engineer.

The construction work will last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, weather permitting.

The northbound bridge just north of the Route AB exit is being replaced with a new seismically designed three-lane structure. The third lane will serve as an acceleration lane for northbound onramp traffic, Wilson said. The current bridge has no acceleration lane.

The whole project is expected to be completed in 2003.