The Mississippi River has reached high levels in the past few weeks, which has stopped the progress of at least one major project in the area. The Don Welge Memorial Bridge project (formerly known as the Chester Bridge) has had to halt operations for at least the next week as the wait is on for the levels to go back to safer working conditions. The project was delayed earlier this month and has continued.
“The contractors have shut down a big part of their operations and moved out some of the equipment and materials while they wait for the river to go back down,” MoDOT Project Director Brian Okenfuss said.
On Monday, April 29, the National Weather Service recorded the Mississippi River at Chester, Ill. at 18.74 feet. It rose to 34.4 feet by Friday, May 3.
“Right now it’s about two or three feel higher than where they would like it to be,” Okenfuss said. “I try not to get too specific on how high the water needs to be to where they can work. Certainly, if the river can go down a few more feet would be good.”
The contractors were prepared for aa situation like this as they built in several weeks of leeway into the schedule for weather and other obstacles.
“We anticipated that over the life of this project we would encounter something like this,” he said. “We thought that at some point that the river could rise. We were hoping not to have to do something like that, but we always knew that it was a risk. They built some days into the schedule to account for river fluctuations.”
Okenfuss said the rise could be because of rain up north and in the area that could account for the rise in levels.
“Usually it’s a combination of things, but that’s what I would attribute it to,” he said.
The project itself was right on schedule before the shutdown. Crews had been working on the towers of the bridge and were making good time. The most advanced tower was on the Missouri side.
“We’ve been working on the Illinois side as well in the river and on the retaining wall,” Okenfuss said. “they are working where they can.”
Okenfuss is optimistic that work can resume fully in the next week, but isn’t committed to any singular date.
“I hesitate to commit to anything,” he said. It’s unpredictable, but this should not delay any sort timeline for the completion of the project as a whole.”
The project began construction in late 2023 through a combined $307.1 million investment between Illinois and Missouri, the project will replace the aging Chester Bridge that carries Illinois 150 and Missouri 51 over the Mississippi River from Randolph County to Perry County, Mo., providing a safe and reliable transportation solution for the region. Courtesy of Rebuild Illinois, IDOT is investing approximately $143.2 million into the bridge and Illinois approach.
The project, which will be overseen by MoDOT and constructed using a design-build approach, will be completed in December 2026. The new bridge will be named in honor of former Chester resident and longtime bridge advocate Don Welge.
Built in 1942, the bridge accommodates 7,000 vehicles daily, connecting much of the region’s agricultural traffic, industries and travelers on the river’s southern Illinois and southeast Missouri sides. The project will replace the two 11-foot lanes with two 12-foot lanes with shoulders, making the bridge twice as wide while also addressing longtime draining and flooding issues.
