Cape city to move ahead with Arena Park stormwater project

The City of Cape Girardeau will move ahead with a stormwater improvement project at Arena Park designed to reduce flash flooding.

City Council members this week approved a contract with Fronabarger Concreters Inc. of Oak Ridge to install box culverts and storm pipes on a section of Arena Creek that runs through the city park.

Fronabarger submitted the low bid of more than $748,000, well under the engineer�s estimate of $1.29 million, city officials said.

But the contract with Fronabarger does not reflect the total cost of the project, public works director Stan Polivick said.

In order to speed up the process, the city in August bought the culverts.

Including the culverts, design work and construction, the entire project will cost less than $2 million, Polivick said. City officials initially had projected the price tag would total more than $2.5 million.

�The good news is that the bids are quite good,� Polivick said.

Construction is expected to start next month with completion expected by the end of March, he said.

Polivick said city officials want the project completed before recreational activities commence at Arena Park in the spring.

City engineer Casey Brunke said the project will involve 1,800 linear feet of 8-by-3-foot box culverts and 1,100 linear feet of storm pipe of various diameters.

The project has been a major focus of city government.

Polivick said it will help reduce flooding in the park, but �it won�t eliminate it.�

He said, �If we get a 3-inch July thunderstorm, it is still going to flood the park.�

But he added, �It will allow the park to drain out a little faster.�

City staff originally proposed a more comprehensive stormwater project in Arena Park that would have cost around $6 million. But council members decided to scale back the project in order to provide additional funding for other projects.

The project now will begin farther south in the park where the creek makes a �hard turn to the east,� Polivick said. The culverts and pipes will allow stormwater to drain faster into Cape LaCroix Creek, which borders the south side of the park.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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