The Missouri Department of Transportation has dropped the historic Chester Bridge into the Mississippi River, following the completion of the new $307 million Don Welge Memorial Bridge to become the region’s primary river crossing.
Crowds gathered September 28 to watch the 84-year-old structure collapse. Within 48 hours, crews had removed the Chester Bridge’s truss pieces and reopened the channel to boat and barge traffic.
(For a video of the Chester Bridge’s implosion, see the video at the end of this article.)
The Don Welge Memorial Bridge opened prior to the implosion and features a three-tower, cable-stayed design for a 100-year service life.
The new bridge connecting Randolph County, Illinois, and Perry County, Missouri, via Highways 150 and 51 was overseen by Missouri DOT alongside a $143.2 million investment from Illinois DOT, which also contributed the bridge’s Illinois approach through the state’s $33.2 billion, six-year Rebuild Illinois program.
The new structure is composed of four spans and stretches 2,900 feet in length. The Don Welge Bridge, which sees 7,000 drivers per day, has a wider crossing compared to the previous structure with two 12-foot lanes and 10-foot shoulders.
Powered byThe design-build contract was awarded in March 2023 to the Ames Team consisting of Ames Construction Inc. and lead engineer Parsons Transportation Group.
Construction crews worked in cofferdams as deep as 50 feet below water level and up to 280 feet above the Mississippi River. The new bridge consists of 28,000 cubic yards of concrete, 7.2 million pounds of rebar and 6.1 million pounds of structural steel.
