Cape council to vote on contract for street improvements

As the city of Cape Girardeau is gearing up for the fifth installment of the Transportation Trust Fund, the remaining projects from TTF 4 still are in progress.

The city council will vote tonight to enter into a contract with Fronabarger Concreters Inc. for the Walnut Street and South West End Boulevard projects. The company offered the lowest bid of the five the city received, putting combined construction costs for the projects just under $2 million.

Funding for the project comes from TTF 4 revenue. The half-cent sales tax allows transportation and infrastructure projects to be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Benefits expected to come from the projects are additional access points for surrounding neighborhoods, establishing a connection to Shawnee Park and helping create more pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, city engineer Casey Brunke explained.

The work to be completed by Fronabarger Concreters includes street widening and improvements and construction of storm sewers, gutters and sidewalks. Additional street lighting is also part of the project. The area included in the projects are Walnut Street from Sprigg Street to West End Boulevard and West End Boulevard from Linden Street to Jefferson Street.

The Walnut Street project will actually add a new section of the street, closing the gap stretching from Beaudean Lane to West End Boulevard, near the Shawnee Park Center.

Brunke said the two projects were bid together because Walnut Street and West End Boulevard will intersect, tying together many project details.

Other business

A public hearing will be held at tonight's meeting to consider a request to rezone property at 820 N. Sprigg St. from C-1, general commercial district, to NC, neighborhood commercial district. The first reading of the ordinance rezoning the property will be considered by the council later in the regular session as a separate item.

The request for rezoning received no objection from the Planning and Zoning Commission when the matter was considered at its most recent meeting Jan. 14. Approval of the rezoning would allow the lower level of the existing building to be renovated into 10 one-bedroom apartment units, while also allowing the existing commercial uses on the main level facing Sprigg Street to remain, according to the application submitted to the city by Keystone Design Inc.

The lower level that would be renovated under the rezoning was once Slingers Nightclub and Lounge. The strip mall facing Sprigg Street has primarily housed restaurants. Other apartment units surround the property, which sits across the street from Southeast Missouri State University's Towers residence hall complex.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

820 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Walnut Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

West End Boulevard, Cape Girardeau, Mo.