NEW ROAD: WORK ON LEXINGTON PROGRESSES

Construction on the next major phase of the $3 million Lexington Avenue arterial project in Cape Girardeau is well under way.

City Engineer J. Kensey Russell said Thursday that if the weather continues to cooperate the street should be completed from Kingshighway east to Perryville Road by the middle of the summer.

"This project begins at the end of the current asphalt portion just west of Carolina and it will go all the way to Perryville Road, and includes construction of all the cross streets," he said.

"It should be done this summer. If the weather continues to hold well and the contractor is able to make good progress, it probably will be the middle of the summer."

Once that section of the route is completed, plans likely will proceed yet this year for the eastward extension of the street to Highway 177.

"We've got engineering done all the way to (Highway) 177," Russell said. "A lot of that will depend on land acquisition, which isn't done yet."

In January the City Council passed a resolution authorizing a $252,000 contract with Fronabarger Concreters Inc. of Jackson for a 2,150-foot section of Lexington from a point west of Carolina Lane to Perryville Road.

The Missouri Highway Commission last October awarded a $1.29 million contract to Robertson Contractors Inc. of Poplar Bluff for a Lexington intersection with Kingshighway and Route W. Last year the street was completed as far west as Route W.

The project authorized in October includes construction of a realigned and signalized intersection at Kingshighway and a five-lane bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek.

Russell said the Kingshighway-Mount Auburn-Lexington intersection project should begin soon.

"They did move a little bit of dirt here a couple of weeks ago," he said. "It's a highway department contract, and the last word I had, the contractor was waiting for drier conditions."

Bob Wilson, the highway department's resident engineer in Jackson, said that once the site dries sufficiently the project should proceed rapidly.

"We got in about two days of work, which was some stripping and prep work so we could start moving dirt," Wilson said. "The rains came, and it hasn't dried out enough to get back in there.

"Once it starts it won't take that long to finish the project. We're still looking for completion this season mid to late summer."

Wilson said some traffic will have to be diverted when the actual intersection work is started, but the inconvenience should be minimal.

"We'll be working next to Kingshighway to a degree, and in the end we'll resurface part of Kingshighway. So we'll have to divert traffic some, but it shouldn't be that bad," he said.

Russell said the completed connection between Kingshighway and Perryville Road likely will alleviate some congestion on other north-end streets.

"We anticipate that it will relieve some of the traffic near the Perryville Road and Cape Rock intersection," he said. "From Perryville north, it's difficult to project what effect it will have."

The city engineer said the Lexington project has been needed for a long time, and that the project was first proposed more than 20 years ago. He said a major east-west arterial should spawn development in the northern end of town along the route.

"The last large arterial project the city undertook was probably Mount Auburn Road running from Route K to (Kingshighway)," Russell said. "The impact that has had on the west side as far as traffic flow and development has been considerable over the past several years."

The project is a cooperative effort of the city and the Highway and Transportation Department. Funding for the project, which is administered by the department, is from the city's federal-aid-urban funds and from state funds.