Bridge repairs set to start Tuesday, force traffic detours

A bridge on Southern Expressway in Cape Girardeau will be closed for three to four weeks for repairs, beginning Tuesday, city officials said.

The bridge is between Minnesota Avenue and West End Boulevard, said Andrew Stone, traffic-operations manager with the city’s public-works department.

“It is an old bridge,” Stone said.

The project involves bridge-deck repairs, as well as some work on the substructure, he said. The bridge has experienced “a little bit of rust,” he added.

All of the city’s bridges are inspected annually by the Missouri Department of Transportation, Stone said. An inspection disclosed the need for repairs, he said.

Thomas Industrial Coatings of Pevely, Missouri, will make the repairs to that bridge as well as some lesser repairs to the Lynwood Hills Drive bridge.

Stone said repairs to the two bridges combined will cost about $160,000.

Detours will be posted and motorists are encouraged to use alternate routes, he said.

Work on the Lynwood Hills bridge will commence after the work on the Southern Expressway bridge is completed, Stone said.

Unlike the work on Southern Expressway, repairs to the Lynwood Hills bridge will not require closure of the entire roadway, he said.

Pertinent address:

Southern Expressway and Minnesota Avenue, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Southern Expressway and West End Boulevard, Cape Girardeau, Mo.