DELAY IN BUILDING SPAN IRKS CITY FIRMS

Standing outside the auto repair business where he works as foreman, Dale Todt casts a disillusioned glance toward the barricaded, partially dismantled Good Hope Street bridge.

Orange and white barricades and a large "Road Closed" sign greet motorists at this unwanted dead end.

"We are kind of in a no-man's land," he said, standing in front of Pro Auto Center's brick building, just southeast of the bridge that spanned Walker Branch and once linked Good Hope to Kingshighway.

"It's a pain to explain to customers how to get here. It's a pain for us to leave," he said.

The cut-off bridge has hurt business at the auto repair shop. "They can see the building, but they can't get there," Todt said.

It has also kept away some customers next door at Auto Tire and Parts Co.

For the customers who take a roundabout way to get to the store, the closed bridge is a constant source of complaint.

"I just see the impact on the business and it's frustrating," Bob Tlapek said. Tlapek is general manager of the firm, whose Cape Girardeau facility includes both a retail and auto parts distribution operation.

To get to Auto Tire and Parts or the neighboring Pro Auto Service Center, customers have to use Bloomfield or William streets and then take Christine or Plaza Way to reach Good Hope and then proceed west to where the two Good Hope businesses are situated not far from Walker Branch.

The bridge has been closed to traffic since late January when the west side of the concrete span was removed to allow construction of a steel, sheet-pile wall to stabilize the ground along Kingshighway.

Work on a new span and channel improvements at Good Hope and Linda streets haven't begun. The contractor, Shappert Engineering of Rockford, Ill., plans to finish replacing the Bessie Street bridge farther north along the creek before it starts on the Good Hope bridge.

The work is part of a $7 million contract for flood-control work along Walker Branch, from the confluence with Cape LaCroix Creek northward almost to Broadway.

The contract was issued by the Corps of Engineers.

Corps of Engineers construction inspector Dean Surface said the project began in October 1993. The contractor has until November or December to complete the work.

Replacement of the Bessie Street bridge began when the old structure was closed in March.

Surface said the new Bessie Street bridge should be completed by mid-June at the latest. The contractor would then begin work on the Good Hope span.

Construction of a new Good Hope bridge and the last section of the concrete channel could be completed by September, Surface said.

Both Surface and Ken Eftink, development services coordinator for the city of Cape Girardeau, said they understand the public's frustration.

Eftink said the city has tried to speed up the process, even suggesting the contractor work concurrently on the Bessie Street and Good Hope bridges.

"We had even talked to them about bringing in some type of temporary fill to where we could still use the bridge and drive over the sheet piling that was put in place."

But at this point, he said, there's nothing the city can do to move things along.

The Corps of Engineers is actually in charge of the flood-control project.

Surface said the contractor had some flexibility when it came to scheduling specific construction work.

The contractor couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Eftink said the Good Hope work was originally supposed to be included in the first phase of improvements but had to be moved back because another contractor hadn't completed work on Cape LaCroix Creek where it joins Walker Branch just south of Good Hope.

"The specs for the project did have a loophole that allows the contractor to take eight months to finish this bridge," Eftink said.

"Our position is to try to keep the construction time as short as possible without substantially driving up the cost," he said.

Eftink said city staff initially had hoped a new Good Hope bridge could have been constructed within five months and the road reopened by late June.

For Todt and Tlapek, it is a waiting game.

"I just wish it would end soon," Todt said.