PERRYVILLE ROAD WORK NOT DOEN ON TIME; CITY WILL SEEK DAMAGES FROM TWO CONTRACTORS

The Perryville Road improvement project failed to reach completion Monday as scheduled, a situation that will cost the contractors involved.

Fronabarger Concreters Inc. of Jackson and Lappe Cement Finishing Inc. of Perryville will have to pay Cape Girardeau combined liquidated damages of $500 per calendar day until the road can be opened to traffic.

The meter started running Tuesday.

Once the road is open, the contractors will continue to be charged $250 a day until the job is 100 percent complete.

The damages will be withheld from the city's final payments to the contractors for the project.

Neither contractor could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Because of recent weather conditions, work on Perryville Road is at a standstill.

City engineer Mark Lester said there is no new target date for completion.

"Right now it depends on the weather," Lester said. "It's too cold to pour concrete. Quite frankly, it's too cold to do anything except freeze."

Temperatures are expected to rise back into the 40s next week. If that forecast holds true, Lester hopes Perryville Road can open by the middle of January, with only some minor finishing work remaining.

Paving the final 300 feet of road is the primary component of the job remaining, Lester said. Some gutter work, fencing around a retaining wall, sealing joints in the pavement and general cleanup and grading also still need to be done.

Work on Perryville Road, the first of the four primary road projects being funded through the city's Transportation Trust Fund, started in February.

The $1.7 million project covers a one-mile stretch from Meyer Drive north to the city limits. Lester said the project will come in near budget.

Specifically, the project goals were to widen the street to 36 feet, improve sight distances at intersections, provide safer turning on to and off of side streets, improve drainage and add sidewalks.

At Monday's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting, several council members asked if at least some portions of the construction zone could be opened to local traffic. Some area residents have grown impatient with taking alternate -- and usually indirect -- routes home, council members reported.

Lester said safety concerns make keeping the construction zone closed the preferred option.