City may take out a state loan to fix sinkholes

To keep the city of Cape Girardeau's plan for a new South Sprigg Street bridge on track, securing timely funding is a key element -- including possibly taking out a loan.

A section of the road, including the bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek, has been closed since 2013 because of sinkholes in the area.

The city started taking action last summer on a plan to reopen the roadway by entering into an emergency relief program agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.

The program offers an 80/20 grant, with funds administered through the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The federal share is not to exceed $1.2 million.

Contractors have completed geotechnical surveys of the area to better understand the subsurface and offered a plan to the city, which requires building a new, slightly longer bridge near the existing infrastructure.

The next step is to go through the design phase before the city begins advertising for construction bids. A contract for construction must be awarded by September, a requirement of the federal grant.

But there's a catch with the grant funds.

"The city applied for emergency relief funds, and the project was deemed eligible, but that literally takes an act of Congress to be approved, and we have been unable to get a time frame of when that might happen," said assistant city manager Molly Hood.

U.S. lawmakers recently passed a two-month transportation funding "patch" but have been unable to come to an agreement on a long-term transportation bill.

To continue moving forward with the project while the federal government works out the funding for the Highway Trust Fund, the city is looking at a loan.

MoDOT offers low-interest Missouri Transportation Finance Corporation loans for eligible transportation projects across the state. The city has a couple of weeks before the loan application deadline, and Hood said city interactions with MoDOT so far have been positive.

The loan will allow the city to fund the project until it receives the emergency relief funding, which Hood is certain will come through.

"I'm very confident we will receive [the federal grant funds]; I just don't know when," she said.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

2524 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.