Cape staff, contractor to hold open house on street-repair plan

Cape Girardeau city staff members will hold a public meeting Wednesday to outline construction plans for replacement of sections of a dozen deteriorated, concrete streets in various subdivisions.

The open-house-format meeting will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Osage Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway.

City employees and the project contractor will be available to explain the project process. No formal presentation will be made.

The Cape Girardeau City Council recently awarded a contract to Nip Kelley Equipment Co. to do the construction work at a cost of $1.19 million. The street work will be funded with rebudgeted Transporation Trust Fund money as approved by voters in August, city officials said.

The street work, scheduled to start in April and be finished by the end of the year, is part of a five-year, $4.25-million plan to repair the city’s patched, dilapidated streets through 2020.

City engineer Casey Brunke said some of these streets haven’t seen major repairs since they were built. Cape Girardeau’s streets are, on average, about 35 years old, according to the city’s website.

With this year’s concrete-pavement program, the selected streets will be repaired half a width at a time, Brunke said.

Work is expected to take three to four weeks per side. Driveways will not be adjusted.

“People need to understand that for four to seven days, they may not be able to access their driveways,” she said. “The neighborhood might be torn up for a little bit.”

Streets to be repaired include sections of NorthChurch Street, Cannon Lane, Patriot Drive, Cypress Court, Eagle Ridge, Valley View, Oak Ridge Court, Keystone Drive, Good Hope Street, Brentwood Drive, Rosewood Drive and Dover Lane.

Many of these streets have been patched with asphalt over the years, creating a tapestry of irregular-shaped sections of lumpy pavement that make for a bumpy ride.

In some cases, the patches have begun to crumble.

Brunke said the city assessed the condition of Cape Girardeau’s streets to determine needed road repairs.

“We pretty much know where we have issues,” she explained.

In addition to scheduled concrete work, Mayor Harry Rediger said the city will continue to patch potholes throughout the city as part of routine maintenance.

The city has more than 230 miles of streets and 22 miles of alleyways — about the same distance as a round trip to St. Louis, according to the city’s website.

The city reported on its website most of Cape Girardeau’s streets were in a “fair or better condition” in 2012.

But Rediger said he knows the city has its share of worn-out, deteriorating streets.

He advised residents to click on the city’s website, cityofcapegbirardeau.org, to report potholes or call the Public Works Department to report such road problems. Information about the city’s road-repair plans also can be found on the website.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

---

Did you know?

• The city of Cape Girardeau has more than 230 miles of streets and 22 miles of alleyways, about the same distance as a round trip to St. Louis.
• About two-thirds of the city streets are paved in concrete; remaining streets are asphalt.
• Cape GirardeauÂ’s streets are an average of 35 years old.

Source: City of Cape Girardeau website