BIDS TO BE SOUGHT ON ROAD WORK

A number of major highway construction projects in the area are scheduled to be bid this summer and fall with construction starting this year, Missouri Highway and Transportation Department officials said Thursday.

The only major project in Southeast Missouri on the department's August bid-call list is a Highway 25 bridge over the Diversion Channel near Dutchtown.

Bob Simpson of the department's District 10 office in Sikeston said the first phase of the total $5.8 million project will begin Aug. 30, when bids are opened for the $3.3 million span across the Diversion Channel. The 1,900-foot, 40-foot-wide bridge will be built just east of the existing 22-foot-wide span, which is 60 years old.

Simpson said the second phase of the project will be bid next spring. It will include construction of 1.4 miles of approach to the new bridge and the raising and relocation of the existing highway above the flood plain between Dutchtown and Blomeyer at an estimated cost of $2.5 million.

The entire project is scheduled to be completed in fall 1992. Traffic will use the old bridge and highway while the work is in progress.

Meanwhile, the Lexington Street, Route W, North Kingshighway, Mount Auburn Road intersection and bridge project moved a step closer toward a start date later this year.

Simpson said the final design plan for the intersection and bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek was sent to the department's office in Jefferson City this week for approval and placement on a bid-call list.

Simpson said the project likely will be set for bidding this fall. He said the actual start of construction will depend on when the bids are opened but work on the bridge can continue during the winter.

The $700,000 project will bring the four traffic arteries together to square up with the Mount Auburn intersection. In addition to the new bridge, traffic signals will be installed at the redesigned intersection, Simpson said.

Cape Girardeau will supply 75 percent of the cost of the project from Federal Aid Urban funding and the state will provide 25 percent.

Simpson said bids will be opened in October for milling and resurfacing of 25 miles of Highway 61 from Morley to the north New Madrid interchange. That project will be bid in two sections, he said.

The department said work continues on an $800,000 project to eliminate soil subsidence on the slopes of the Highway 77 railroad overpass north of Chaffee. Work was halted temporarily when it was discovered the compound used to stabilize the soil contained a toxic substance. Precautions are now being taken when the lime-based product is mixed with the soil.

The resurfacing of five miles of Route K from Interstate 55 west to Highway 25 is nearly complete. The $770,000 project includes construction of a left-turn lane on Highway 25 for turns onto Route K and placement of asphalt along the shoulder of the highway.