Bridge on target for completion this year, MoDOT officials say

Construction crews still have more concrete to pour and steel cables to string, but all the work should be done and the new $100 million Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge completed by late this year, Missouri Department of Transportation officials say.

Any spring flooding, however, could delay the project, said Stan Johnson, MoDOT engineer. "Most of the work they are doing from barges on the river," he said.

Drainage work is being completed and paving will begin soon on the last stretch of Highway 74 from Sprigg Street to the new Cape Girardeau bridge, Johnson said.

The bridge project will include installation of traffic lights at the intersection with a new Fountain Street that is to be constructed later this year.

The four-lane span, with a bridge deck supported by 128 steel cables, will be outfitted with 140 decorative lights.

The lighting project, which is separate from the bridge project itself, will cost over half a million dollars, officials said. It is being funded largely with a federal grant. The grant to the city will pay 80 percent of the cost.

The local share of the cost is $107,000. The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's beautification committee is spearheading a drive to raise the local share. The chamber is asking people to purchase lights for the bridge, $2,500 for a large light and $250 for a small light.

The bridge will have 32 large decorative lights and 108 smaller ones, said John Mehner, chamber president.

Mehner said the decorative lights will be in addition to regular street lighting.

The lights will be on a timer that will turn the lights out, possibly around 1:30 a.m. daily, Mehner said. Towboat crews will be able to turn the decorative lights off for navigation purposes, he said.