New Mississippi River Bridge

They began placing the steel cross-members for the deck on each tower last week (Thursday, June 14).

Here is the construction web-cam (requires Flash Player)...

http://oxblue.com/open/modot/mrbp

"Missouri facing East" may be the most interesting camera and one can use the calendar interface to review the construction progress.

One can easily see the towers from five-six miles west of the Mississipi River on eastbound I-44 or westbound on I-55/70 northeast of East St. Louis. It may have been a playful homage to the Gateway Arch to similarly shape the towers, but the inverted-V shape is undoubtedly less expensive.

Even whilst under construction it still counts as a bridge, although it isn't bridging anything just yet.

The towers look like they are nearly full height. They are easily visible from the Martin Luther King bridge and maybe from the Interstates on the Poplar Street bridge. I added a photo even though it's not a bridge yet.

A construction worker working on the new I-70 Mississippi river bridge fell into the river and is missing. According to the news story this happened on the IL-side of the bridge construction.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missing-mississippi-river-bridge-worker-identified/article_2b5a910e-78ed-11e1-9c95-001a4bcf6878.html

A carpenter working on a span of the new Mississippi River fell from an industrial lift into the river and vanished Wednesday, setting off a search of the river and prompting federal workplace safety investigators to head to the work site.

Rescuers suspended their search in the late afternoon, said Capt. Dan Sutter of the St. Louis Fire Department. Rescuers intend to resume their search today.

East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore said Wednesday evening the missing worker was tentatively identified as Andy Gammon, 35, of Park Hills. Gammon is a carpenter who works for the joint venture team of Massman, Traylor Bros., and Alberici that is prime contractor on the bridge project.

The worker was on a piece of equipment called an aerial man lift when it fell into the river, according to Greg Horn, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s project director on the bridge project.

The man lift was on a barge about 150 feet upstream of a large concrete tower for the new bridge, but toppled into the water at about 10:30 a.m. along with the worker.

Tours are being conducted once a month for the public.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/construction-buffs-bridge-lovers-lining-up-to-tour-new-span/article_503d91ef-4338-5348-85a8-bb0fd6d7ae4a.html