BRIDGE HIGHWAY WORK TO BEGIN; 21 BUILDINGS TO COME DOWN IN FIRST PHASE

Twenty-one buildings, most of them homes, will be razed soon as the first phase of demolition work gets under way on the new Mississippi River bridge route project.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission awarded a nearly $26,000 demolition contract Friday to Amy's Trucking Service of Cape Girardeau.

The $25,984 demolition project, however, is just a small part of the more than $401,000 in costs incurred by the highway department in obtaining and clearing these tracts.

The state spent $263,530 to obtain the properties and another $101,849 on relocation costs. Asbestos testing cost another $3,300, while asbestos removal work is costing $7,000, highway department officials said.

The demolition work is not expected to start until late January after a separate contractor has completed the task of removing asbestos found in 12 of the buildings, said Leroy Nunn, district right of way agent with the highway department office in Sikeston.

Nunn said Tuesday that the demolition work is expected to take a month to six weeks to complete. With uncertain winter weather, it could well be March before the work is finished, he said.

Removal of the asbestos materials began last week. The work is being done by American Environmental Technologies Corp. of DeSoto. It is expected to be completed by Jan. 21, said Bob Wilson, resident engineer with the highway department office in Jackson.

Wilson said the 21 structures are situated to the east and west of the College and Sprigg streets intersection.

The buildings to be demolished include houses, garages and sheds. In addition, a former, one-story business building and addition at 600 S. Sprigg will be razed. The site previously housed the Specialized Office Services Co., which has since been relocated to a site on Kingshighway.

The buildings to be demolished are located at 427, 522, 532, 542, 710, 711 and 714 College; 600, 601 and 609 S. Sprigg; 548 and 551 S. Frederick, and 547 and 548 S. Middle.

Some of the buildings have basements. Once the structures are demolished, the basements will be backfilled and grass planted.

Freeman McCullah, the highway department's district engineer in Sikeston, said the tracts will be mowed during the time between the razing of the buildings and actual construction of the new Mississippi River bridge and relocated Highway 74 connecting route to Interstate 55.

The structures have been vacant for at least several months, McCullah said.

A couple of the vacant buildings were used recently by the Cape Girardeau police for SWAT team training.

McCullah said the highway department welcomed the police presence in the area.

Highway department officials had been concerned about vagrants. "What happened was we had had just a little concern about the possibility of some vagrants sleeping in some of those houses after we bought them," McCullah said.

On Tuesday, a vagrant found in one of the vacant houses was ordered to leave by Cape Girardeau Police.

McCullah said the entire $90 million bridge and highway project will involve the purchase of 134 tracts and the demolition or moving of 80 structures. "We have made offers on about two-thirds of them now."

The state has already purchased more than 50 of the properties. "We've actually bought 54 tracts and we have spent $2.5 million to buy those tracts and relocate the people," he pointed out.

Most of the 80 structures will be demolished. But McCullah said that in the case of some of the more expensive structures, it could be "economically justifiable" to simply move them a short distance away from the highway route.

"In other words, if it financially can be saved and should be saved, we are going to save it," he said.

The department, he explained, would either allow owners to move the structures or auction them off with the intention that the buildings would be moved.

McCullah said he expects that most if not all of the demolition work for the state project will be completed this year.

If all goes right, construction of the bridge itself could begin in 1994, McCullah said. The entire bridge and highway project, he said, could be completed by 1997 or 1998.