LEXINGTON LINK WITH ROUTE W NEARLY COMPLETE

The Lexington Avenue arterial project soon will be extended to Route W near Kingshighway on the city's west side.

Cape Girardeau City Engineer J. Kensey Russell said Tuesday that all but a small section of temporary roadway is paved on the section of the street from Carolina to Route W.

"The contractor (Nip Kelley Construction Co.) still has backfill and some grading and dress-up work to do behind the curbs, but certainly, that's something that could be taken care of fairly quickly," Russell said.

Russell said the most recent section of pavement could be opened to traffic this week depending on how much dirt Kelley Construction has to haul for grading and back-fill work.

"It's up to the contractor when he's ready to open that up," he said. "If he's got enough dirt on site, he may open it up this week."

The first section of the arterial project, from Carolina to Flad Avenue was completed last year, and Russell said the section from Flad to Route W will be completed within the time allotted in the contract.

The next section of the project will be construction of a bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek north of Kingshighway and an extension of Lexington to an intersection with Kingshighway and Mt. Auburn Road.

"The bid opening for that project was scheduled for Sept. 20 and to my knowledge, that's still on," Russell said.

He said the work on the segment of Lexington to Kingshighway and construction of the bridge would begin this fall with completion expected next summer.

The $700,000 project will bring the traffic arteries together to square up with the Mount Auburn intersection. In addition to the new bridge, traffic signals will be installed at the redesigned intersection.

Cape Girardeau will supply 75 percent of the cost of the project from Federal Urban Aid funding and the state will provide 25 percent.

The total Lexington arterial project is slated for completion in 1993 at a total cost of $3.07 million. A related street project, also proposed for completion in 1993, is an extension of North Sprigg Street to Lexington at a cost of $650,000.

Russell said the next segment of the project, which the city now is purchasing right of way for, will be an extension from Carolina east to a point east of Perryville Road.

"We'll get that started in 1992," he said. "The right-of-way acquisition is under way now. The bidding and contracting and all could be next spring, with construction work next summer."

Russell said he was pleased with the progress of the project, which was plagued by bureaucratic snags for years before construction finally started in 1990.

"From the construction end of it, we seem to be keeping up," he said.

The street eventually will connect with Highway 177, on the city's east end. The arterial street is expected to open up northern sections of the city for development and will provide an east-west artery for traffic in the city's northern residential areas.