PROJECT PROVES NEIGHBORHOOD NUISANCE

Some South Sprigg Street residents say the construction of the Mississippi River bridge highway has become a neighborhood nuisance.

The sidewalk along the east side of the 500 and 600 blocks of South Sprigg was torn out in mid-April to relocate utility lines. Since then, residents have been saddled with a dusty, bumpy ribbon of dirt where the sidewalk was.

The new highway is taking shape just west of Sprigg where College Street once was. On windy days, the dirt work leaves the neighborhood covered in dust. In times of heavy rains, there has been mud.

Henry Buchheit sees the relentless construction from his front porch at 516 S. Sprigg. He watches truck after truck haul dirt from the site.

"I have been living here since 1959 and I have never had such a mess," he said. "It's disgusting."

The area has become a big dust bowl, he complained. "You would think they could at least clean the street off."

At Sprigg Street Motors at 512 S. Sprigg, Boyce Church has to wash and rewash his cars just to keep the dust off.

Construction vehicles repeatedly have used his parking lot as a turn-around.

"It really has presented a problem for me," Church said. "They've got a mess out there and it is not getting any better."

Buchheit works hard to keep up his home and a neighboring apartment house he owns.

To him, the construction work is nothing short of an invasion.

He put in a new, concrete driveway to the apartment house last year. When construction crews ripped out the sidewalk this spring, they damaged a corner of his driveway.

Two structures have been removed from the northeast corner of Sprigg and College, leaving an empty, weed-filled lot.

"We have got a cesspool in here," Buchheit said. "We shouldn't have to live here with a jungle."

Bob Wilson sympathizes with those who live in the neighborhood. As an engineer with the state highway department in Jackson, Wilson oversees the highway project.

"This is an old established neighborhood and some of the people have lived there maybe all their lives, and they hate to see it disrupted like that."

Wilson said the state and the contractor would do their bests to minimize disruptions.

"I like to stay in contact with the property owners and keep the problems and the complaints to a minimum," he said.

Wilson said state inspectors regularly monitor the construction work.

"We try to get the contractor to clean up after himself as far as the dirt on the road," he said.

The dust problem should improve when paving work begins in the area of Sprigg and College streets, possibly in the late summer or early fall.

A new sidewalk will be constructed, but that can't be done until a section of Sprigg Street is reconstructed to tie in with the new highway, Wilson said.

Bangert Construction of St. Louis is the prime contractor on the project to build a four-lane highway from Kingshighway to Sprigg at a cost of $9.2 million. That stretch of the route extends 1.4 miles.

The contract also includes dirt and drainage work from Sprigg Street east to Aquamsi.

Bangert will complete the work by next summer.

Ultimately, the limited-access highway will extend from Interstate 55 to the proposed, new river bridge.