<p>The Mississippi River Bridge design team has prequalified four contractor teams to bid on the cable-stay portion of the new bridge between East St. Louis, Ill., and St. Louis, Mo.<br /><br />Contractor teams prequalified to bid on the four-lane bridge are: Kiewit Western Co.; American Bridge Co; a joint venture between Walsh Construction and PCL; and a joint venture between Massman Construction Co., Traylor Brothers and Alberici Enterprises.<br /><br />By prequalifying, these contractors will be able to work with the Mississippi River Bridge team to develop confidential and individualized proposals using the latest advances in construction technology. Each contractor has the opportunity to make cost-saving suggestions to reduce the final cost of the river bridge. These contractor teams will submit bids for bridge construction at the end of 2009 using plans that include their confidential concepts.<br /><br />Contractors must prequalify to bid to verify that the company has the experience, leadership and capability available to complete the complex work required in constructing the Mississippi River Bridge.<br /><br />There will be another opportunity for contractor teams to prequalify in August 2009 for the bridge. These contractor teams will bid on the project using base plans that the Mississippi River Bridge design team will develop. The contractor team with the lowest bid on the bridge will win the bridge construction contract when it is awarded. The construction cost of the cable-stayed section of the bridge has been estimated at $160 million.<br /><br />Walsh Construction also is among eight contractors that have indicated that they were interested in working with the Mississippi River Bridge team to develop potentially cheaper construction alternatives on the bridge approaches - the section of the roadway on either side of the bridge leading to the bridge. For the MRB, this section ranges from approximately Route 3 on the Illinois side to just before Broadway on the Missouri side. Those contractors who have indicated they are interested in developing alternatives for the approaches are Fred Weber Inc., KCI Construction Co., Keeley and Sons, Keller Construction Inc., Kozeny-Wagner, Millstone-Bangert Inc., St. Louis Bridge Construction Co. and Walsh Construction.</p>