Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for August 9, 2007 CAIRO BYPASS?

From the Sikeston Standard Democrat...

Mayor calls for 'bridge summit'

By Scott Welton

SIKESTON — Mayor Mike Marshall has called for a “bridge summit” to be held in September to discuss the need for a new bridge from Missouri to Kentucky.

The recent bridge failure in Minneapolis “is a wake-up call to our area here,” Marshall said during the regular Sikeston City Council meeting Monday.

The bridges which cross the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo, Ill., are “twice as old, twice as long and twice as dangerous as the bridge that failed in Minneapolis,” he said.

Marshall said in addition to being good for commerce and tourism, a new bridge is also needed for safety.

While there has been discussion of bridges at St. Louis and and over the Missouri River, “I think it’s high time we start making some noise,” he said. Council members gave their unanimous approval of inviting Missouri and Kentucky senators and congressmen for the “bridge summit.”

“I think we deserve as good a bridge as they have in Cape, Dyersburg and St. Louis,” Marshall said.