Chester IL bridge (MO-51/IL-150) closing 6/1

Mississippi River is still rising. This bridge crosses between Perryville, MO and Chester, IL. Next bridge north is I-255 on the South side of StL. Next bridge South is Cape Girardeau. Plan your routes accordingly.

Route 51 Chester Bridge to Close June 1 | Missouri Department of Transportation

 

*UPDATE*

First the good news:


Now for the bad news:


From Friday evening through Saturday afternoon, there won't be anywhere to cross the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo/Sikeston. Plan your trips accordingly.

 

River is coming down. Problem is, seep water (pushing up from the ground under the levees) and rain run-off has nowhere to go, and is accumulating in Gale, East Cape Girardeau, and McClure. Hwy 3 South of 146 has been closed, but 146 has remained open...despite about 4-6" of water over the road in places. I was HOPING they'd keep 146 open until Chester was opened...but I'm not that lucky. Going to be a long way around for a while. Until the Mississippi gets below around 37' @ Cape so they can open the gates and let the water behind the levees drain into the river, the water just doesn't have anywhere to go. They installed about a dozen pumps a week or so ago, but they just aren't keeping up.

 

No, that was the Bird's Point levee in Missouri a couple years ago in order to "save" the $#!+hole of Cairo, IL.

Only levees that I know of that have been breeched this go-round happened because they were topped or simply failed on their own. Read about one farmer intentionally pumping water into his fields to flood them..river was going to top his levee by 6 feet, and figured he'd save the levees and the quality of the farm land if the water wasn't rushing over the top of the levees into dry fields...better to equalize the water levels before they got higher than the levees.

 

Just a reminder, the Cape Girardeau bridge is STILL CLOSED! It isn't due to the river levels, but rather the seep water and rain run-off stuck on the wrong side of the levee. IL3/IL146 had 1-2 feet of water covering the road, and no matter WHAT your dispatcher says, you won't be allowed through. I lost track of how many trucks I watched go by the house, only to come back by after 45+ minutes. They ignored the signs, drove around the barricades, and ended up having to back up several miles to find a spot to turn around. US Express in particular...multiple USX trucks. One stopped in town as I was finishing up on the tractor, so I rolled over to talk. I asked him if he saw the signs...yup, he did. Said he called the company, and they said he could get through. I asked him why he didn't just follow the detour, and he said he "had to follow their routing." Well, that just cost him 2 hours on line 3 for the time he spent following their directions instead of listening to the signs...and he STILL had to backtrack another 10-15 miles to get back to where he would've made the alteration to the routing. I asked him several times "Who's driving the truck?"

Sad thing is, from talking to him, he didn't come across as a rookie...seemed like he had at least a few miles under his belt...must have never worked for a company that doesn't hold your hand, though, because he just seemed unwilling to make a decision for himself in regards to how the truck would get where it was going.

If that's where the industry is headed, I'm not too sure I want to stick around much longer. I probably will...because I don't (and never would) work for a company like that...but it makes me consider alternative ways to pay the bills.