Broadway torn up, then and now

May 22, 1956 Southeast Missourian

Mammoth trench made up Broadway hill for installation of the big storm water sewer line. This is looking west up Broadway, toward Lorimier street. In this area the concrete pipe had been put down, and some dirt heaved back on it. Old street car line and concrete had been hammered up and removed first. Water intakes will be at Broadway and Lorimier. The pressure system will channel water into the river. It is a part of the flood control project. (G.D. Fronabarger photo)

April 18, 2012

Crews work in the 200 block of Broadway which is closed to traffic for construction of the $4.5 million Broadway corridor project. The closure is the first of several along Broadway as Fronabarger Concreters move the project westward to Pacific Street.

City leaders tout the project as a streetscape "promenade" that they say will be a major improvement to precede the completion of the $125 million casino under construction just a few blocks away down Main Street.

The overall project, paid for by the city's Transportation Trust Fund half-cent sales tax, includes pedestrian lighting, landscaping and colored concrete to complement the new street.

The Salvation Army building is at left. Behind it is the Chamber of Commerce building.

Out of the Past:

Aug. 1, 1956

Granite cobblestones, which have formed most of the surface of the Broadway hill from Main Street to Lorimier Street, will be removed and a concrete surface laid in the two-block stretch under plans adopted last night by the Cape Girardeau City Council.

Oct. 29, 1956

Something of a record in the way of concrete pouring is established by the Central Materials Co. in the morning as its workers slap down a strip of pavement 14 feet wide and 175 yards long within six hours, to just about conclude the paving of Broadway hill.

Here is a previous blog about Cape Frozen Foods, at left in top photo.

Here is a previous blog about Harris Motor Car Co., at right in top photo.