Cape council agrees to preserve part of old bridge

Business Today

A small section of the old Mississippi River bridge, including its landmark concrete archway, will be preserved, the Cape Girardeau City Council recently decided.

After receiving cost estimates from an engineering firm, council members said it would be too costly to save the entire concrete ramp of the old bridge.

Smith & Co., a Poplar Bluff, engineering firm, estimated it would cost $255,000 to preserve the entire concrete ramp at the end of Morgan Oak Street, renovate it and turn it into a river overlook.

Saving just the first section of the concrete structure, including the emblem-decorated entrance archway, would cost an estimated $97,000.

The rest of the concrete structure will be torn down by the state as part of the demolition of the old bridge.

Council members said they hope some private funding can be raised to help fund the preservation project. In addition, some of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau tax dollars might go toward the project, the council said.

The council said it doesn't want to spend general fund tax dollars to pay for it.

The old bridge opened in 1928 and was closed last December when the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge opened.

Al Stoverink, facilities management director at Southeast Missouri State University, said preserving the archway would complement the school's planned Terrace Park on the grounds of the adjacent River Campus overlooking the Mississippi River.