Cape council to vote on downtown sidewalk, lighting project

The Cape Girardeau City Council will look to move ahead with a downtown sidewalk and lighting project when it meets today.

Council members will vote on a resolution to hire Fronabarger Concreters Inc. of Oak Ridge to replace existing sidewalks and streetlights along a 900-foot section of Main Street from Broadway to Independence Street.

The city received three bids for the work. Fronabarger Concreters submitted the low bid of $1.24 million, city engineer Casey Brunke said.

The project involves concrete sidewalk, decorative street lighting and pavement, electrical conduit and wiring, storm sewer, asphalt paving, irrigation, landscaping and "street furniture," Brunke said.

City government will pay for the project with money from the transportation sales tax and the casino riverfront development, she said.

Construction work is expected to start in January, with completion by late May, Brunke said.

"There will be (traffic) detours," she added.

Under the agreement, the contractor will be allowed to close a half-block of the street at a time.

Brunke said pedestrians will be able to "get around."

In an agenda report to the council, Brunke wrote "the existing streetscape" south of Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau does not meet federal handicapped accessibility requirements.

The existing lighting also is "inadequate and failing," she said.

"It is believed the improvements will aid in attracting tourists, promoting downtown businesses and perpetuating efforts to attract further investment and redevelopment in the riverfront area," she wrote.

Public meetings were held in September and November 2015 to garner public input on the project. Construction details were shared with downtown merchants and business owners last month, Brunke wrote.

A second "stakeholder" meeting is planned for January.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.