Pieces of progress

Darting back and forth across town, a small, white bus carried several Cape Girardeau civic leaders around with the intent of giving them some insight into four major projects that developers hope will make life in the area better.

The three-hour tour stopped at the floodwater detention basin near Cape La Croix Road, the water treatment plant expansion, the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and the Marquette Hotel building on Broadway.

The city council took the tour to get a look at the physical locations of future and ongoing projects and to ask questions of those chiefly involved in the construction. This year's trip was led by interim city manager Doug Leslie. Only one council member, Charlie Herbst, was unable to attend. Other officials in the city administration also took part.

Bill Vaughn, development services coordinator for the city of Cape Girardeau, and Wayne Miller of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers met the group at the city's 152-acre detention basin. They answered questions and explained how the basin, which is the final part of a $40 million federal flood-control project, is designed to protect the city from flash flooding along Cape La Croix Creek and its tributaries.

"Most people probably don't realize this is here and what good it does," Miller said.

The $5.2-million detention basin held back storm water during May's downpours, preventing serious flooding along Cape La Croix Creek. The storm water covered about 60 acres at the detention site, Vaughn said. Water is controlled by a 100-foot-wide concrete spillway, which is 27 feet high from the top of the spillway to the bottom of the creek.

The basin was largely completed last fall. However, it is still under contract until a few more things are completed at the site, and until then, the land belongs to the federal government, Vaughn said.

Water plantThe next stop for the group was the city's expanded water plant overlooking the Mississippi River.

The $17.6 million project is in its third year of construction, but it is considered nearly finished, said tour leader Kevin Priester, manager of Alliance Water Resources. A grand opening for the public is expected to take place sometime this fall.

Council members started their tour of the plant at the end of the cleaning process in the sand filter room.

"This is sort of a backward tour," Priester said in a room filled with rectangular pools of water. "We've started where the process ends and where the water gets its final polishing before it comes out of your tap."

He led the group through various parts of the plant where water is taken into the system, treated with chlorine and other chemicals and stored in a new 1.75 million-gallon well for clear water. Priester also showed what will become a new laboratory for testing samples and the plant's backup power generator and transformers.

Councilwoman Marcia Ritter admired the extra room and cabinetry of the lab, saying it would provide the plant staff with a much improved working space.

Emerson BridgeFor Mayor Jay Knudtson, the most poignant part of Wednesday's tour was walking across the unfinished surface of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and trying to absorb what he called an "overwhelming" accomplishment. He found it hard to tear himself away from the northern edge of the bridge as he peered across the water to the old bridge, he said.

"I've wondered what it looked like to the mayor 75 years ago to have come out here like we have and looked back at the skyline of the city," he said. "There are very few times in a career that you can say you're having a 'once in a lifetime' experience. This is certainly one of those times."

The bridge tour was led by Stan Johnson, area engineer with the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Councilwoman Evelyn Boardman couldn't help but share her excitement at walking across the bridge with her friends and family.

"I've made five phone calls already on the bridge," she said smiling into the wind. "I've got to call my dad. He watches it every day."

As she dialed her cell phone, she looked over at the old bridge several hundred yards away.

"It almost looks like a little matchstick bridge," she said.

Marquette buildingProtected underneath a layer of wet, grimy plywood boards at the Marquette Hotel building is a nearly pristine tile floor that tour leader Bill Whitlow, project manager for Prost Builders, showed to council members.

Much of the bottom floor and trimming at the Marquette Hotel has been temporarily covered until contractors can restore the original tiles, Whitlow said.

He took the tour up through the second and third floors, showing them large, open rooms where the ceilings and walls have been stripped away as part of the renovation. Major improvements include a large cinderblock wall running up through the center of the building to protect it from earthquakes.

The project is heading toward a late January finish, he said. Some of the state offices that have scheduled to take occupancy by next summer may actually move in sooner, Whitlow said.

Boardman recalls visiting the building in years past when it was an operational hotel.

"It's quite a project," she said, standing outside looking up at the sandblasted exterior. "It's neat to see it at this stage in its life. It's still a grand building."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160