CITY WILL CONSIDER SIEMERS-TO-74 LINK

If the Cape Girardeau City Council approves an agreement for the extension of Siemers Drive at tonight's meeting, it will be the third time this summer it has contracted with an outside party to build a major public works project cheaper and faster than the city could on its own, said Dennis Vollink, president of DSW Development Corp.

Under the agreement, the city would pay DSW up to $515,000 to supervise the connection of Siemers Drive to the new Highway 74 overpass at Interstate 55, with construction to begin as early as Wednesday. The city's original plans called for completing the extension some time after July 1, for an estimated cost of $906,200.

The actual work would be done by subcontractors, Vollink said.

New Highway 74 could be open as early as Nov. 1. Vollink said DSW will try to have the Siemers extension ready at that time.

The extension could reduce congestion on Siemers by diverting south some of the traffic that heads north. Illinois traffic will be able to reach Siemers Drive without using the busy intersection of Siemers and Route K, Vollink said. Similarly, motorists heading south on Interstate 55 or starting from the southern part of Siemers will be able to avoid the same intersection.

Plans call for the new 1,600-foot section of Siemers to be four lanes wide from Bloomfield Road to the new Highway 74. The existing section of Siemers is two lanes wide.

Under the proposed agreement, DSW, which owns land on either side of the proposed extension, would give the city easements at no charge and petition the city for annexation of its property there. The proposed extension of Siemers is not now in the city limits.

The city won't pay DSW until July 1.

City Planner Kent Bratton said the city reduced the cost of the project by obtaining fill at a "bargain price" from the state, which had removed it when it graded the interchange. In addition the city saves the price of buying the right of way.

Vollink said the city saves by reducing its workload and allowing a private contractor to resolve problems more quickly than the city can.

Bratton said the city has no other current plans for improving traffic flow on Siemers Drive. Brian Strickland of the city's engineering department said the department is studying possible changes.

Vollink said DSW is anxious to improve traffic flow in the area to help the businesses in its Cape West Business Park prosper. "The important thing is to get the job and be creative in the approach you take," he said.

The city's other two recent agreements were with DSW for building a sewer line that will eventually service Twin Lakes subdivision and the new Notre Dame Catholic High School, and with Southeast Missouri State University for the reconstruction of the intersection of Henderson Avenue and New Madrid Street.

City officials slated both street projects for later completion under the one-quarter-cent sales tax, but circumstances intervened. Mayor Al Spradling III said that when city officials sold the voters on the sales tax, they established a priority list for the projects to be completed. He said the City Council is not willing to change the priority list because that was the way they sold the people on the tax increase. So when circumstances call for changing priorities, the city looked for other ways to fund the projects officials wanted moved up.

In both cases, the outsiders build the project and then bill the city when the city planned to pay for it originally.