Material delays setback Capaha construction, close Broadway later than expected

The renovations of Cape Girardeau's Penny-Capaha Drainage Improvement Project will force the closure of Broadway between North Sunset Boulevard and Penny Avenue beginning Sept. 19. The closure is expected to last two weeks, pending weather.

Nip Kelley Equipment Co. Inc. will be installing a new box culvert as part of the more than $750,000 in improvements. The original plan was to award the bid earlier this year in hopes of completing a majority of the work over the summer when schools were out of session, Cape Girardeau city engineer Amy Ferris said in an email Thursday. Nip Kelley ordered the culvert in March shortly after being awarded the contract, but material delays that have plagued previous construction projects resulted in the contractor just recently receiving it.

Those same material lead-time issues have also pushed back the construction of the underground detention on the west side of Capaha Park that is a part of the project, Ferris said.

Intersections for North Sunset and Penny will be open, as well as will area businesses. A detour will direct traffic to Independence Street via Caruthers Avenue or North West End Boulevard. In a news release earlier this week, the city encouraged residents to support businesses in the affected area. Officials discouraged motorists from detouring on lowered trafficked, neighborhood streets, the release said.

The improvements are funded by the city's stormwater tax, a three-eigths-cent sales tax, which was renewed by voters in 2018 for 15 years.

The project must be substantially completed within 60 days of materials being received and fully completed in 90 days, according to the city's contract.

Capaha Park

Also at Capaha Park Pond, Zoellner Construction Co. Inc. is heading up the ongoing dredging of the pond.

The historic water feature in Cape Girardeau was once 15-feet deep, but sediment build-up and sludge reduced the pond to around just one-third of its original depth.

The pond was dredged and redug over the summer. Improvements also include the construction of sediment forebays and a storm sewer pipe, as well as the installation of fish habitat amenities.

The project was also funded through the parks, recreation and stormwater tax and a grant from the state Department of Conservation. Ferris said the project is expected to reach substantial completion sometime this fall.