HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT OPENS BRIDGE OFFICE THIS WEEK

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department this week will open a Cape Girardeau office to deal specifically with right-of-way acquisition for a new Mississippi River bridge route here.

The office will be situated at 550 S. Sprigg, near the corner of Sprigg and College.

Leroy Nunn, right-of-way agent for the highway department's District 10 office in Sikeston, said the project office officially will open Wednesday.

Nunn said he hopes the local office will enable the department to be more responsive to the needs of those affected by the Route 74/Mississippi River bridge project.

"A lot of people whose property is involved in the right-of-way acquisition process do not feel comfortable with our state people contacting them at work, or, in the case of a married couple, they may work in separate locations," Nunn said.

"With a local project office, they can come in after work to meet with us and take care of business."

He said the project office also will serve as an office for staff doing the acquisition work in Cape Girardeau.

"Right now, my people sometimes have to conduct their business and make phone calls to Sikeston while standing at pay phones around town," Nunn added.

The office will be open to the public each Wednesday from 4-8 p.m. A telephone answering machine also was installed and Nunn said messages will be checked regularly. The phone number (314) 290-5690.

Although the office will be open only one night a week, Nunn said the hours might be extended if necessary.

"We've found in the past that in other cities this schedule has worked out quite well, but if need be, we can expand the hours," he said.

Nunn said right-of-way acquisition for the new bridge route through the south end of the city is progressing on schedule.

"Most of the right-of-way purchases have been from South West End Boulevard east to the river," he said. "Of the 43 parcels in this area, the state has purchased 36 of them.

"We'll continue to acquire the rest of the parcels between South Sprigg and South West End Boulevard, but we'll also start working on purchasing right-of-way along I-55 so we can, hopefully, let a contract sometime in January for the preliminary earth work for the new Route 74/I-55 interchange."

Nunn said the state has now spent more than $1 million on right-of-way acquisition and relocation expenses, most of it on property east of South West End Boulevard.

He said the highway department now owns 42 of the total 134 parcels along the route of the new highway from the river to I-55. "I'm hoping that we'll have all of it by a year from now," he said.

Nunn said anyone who has a question about the project office or site acquisition can call the Sikeston office at 472-5354, until the Cape office opens this week.