Maiden Voyage for the M/V Mary Lynn

Make way for the M/V Mary Lynn and her maiden voyage up the Missouri River!

AgriServices of Brunswick, Missouri continue their waterway shipping efforts with a new 3800 horsepower shallow draft boat that will be used exclusively on the Missouri River. The M/V Mary Lynn's first assignment is a whopper! This powerful boat will bring with it a 160’x100’x8’ Ringer Barge with a Manitowoc 4100 Ringer Crane on it, plus, a 1000 hp push boat called the M/V Cleva Lee that will get dropped off at the Amelia Earhart Bridge Project located at mile marker 422.5 in Atchison, Kanses. Four empty hopper barges will also be in tow that will soon head to Blair, Nebraska to get loaded full of alfalfa pellets.

This new boat for AgriServices of Brunswick will be used for bigger tows. Kevin Holcer, with AgriServices of Brunswick says waterway traffic is increasing and this is another effort to move more freight and encourage more shipping on the Missouri River. Holcer says the waterway shipping year on the Missouri River is going well so far, aside from a few delays due to high water. Though, I'd have to assume a few delays due to high water is far better than extremely low water levels that shippers where plagued with the previous 8 years. Waterway shipping on the Missouri River was basically non-existent since 2002. Not only is river shipping back on the Missouri River, we have new boats like the M/V Mary Lynn that can tow bigger loads to help keep the momentum going for waterway traffic.

The crane the M/V Mary Lynn has on it is quite a sight. You can follow the progress of the M/V Mary Lynn on MoDOT's twitter page, plus, if you time it right through twitter... you can go see this large shipping load on the Missouri River with your own eyes!

Massive Concrete Girders are a Missouri First

The single-longest, precast, concrete bridge girders in Missouri state history were installed this week on MoDOT's kcICON design-build project. The 150-foot girders are part of a new land bridge that will span northbound Interstate 29/35 and carry southbound Interstate 29/35 traffic headed for The Paseo, Independence Avenue, and points beyond.

"Imagine a single, I-shaped piece of concrete that stretches from a football field's end zone to the 50-yard line," said kcICON Project Director Brian Kidwell. "Moving just one of these 150,000 pound girders is like lifting the equivalent weight of 70 classic Volkswagen Beetles."

Learn more about the girders from MoDOT Engineer Tom Skinner in this podcast.

Visit the project Web site at http://www.kcicon.com/ or find them on facebook by searching "kcICON project."