Sewer work to close section of Cape Rock Drive

A section of Cape Rock Drive will be closed to through traffic today and Wednesday to make room for sewer improvements, Cape Girardeau city officials said Monday.

Through traffic will be detoured over Ridgeway and Brookwood drives, said Tom Wiesner, project manager for the city's engineering department.

The blocklong section of Cape Rock Drive from Perryville Road to Ridgeway Drive will be closed to through traffic beginning about 6 a.m. today, Wiesner said.

The contractor, Robinson Construction Co., hopes to reopen Cape Rock Drive to through traffic by the end of the work day on Wednesday, he said. But Wiesner said there's a chance the work might carry over into Thursday.

Motorists who live in the affected block will be able to get to and from their homes from the west end of the block. Mail delivery also will be allowed, he said.

The work won't affect traffic on Perryville Road at the Cape Rock intersection. "If you are a Perryville Road motorist you will plow right through it," Wiesner said.

Wiesner believes the short detour won't cause any major traffic problem. "We are lucky that Ridgeway and Brookwood lend themselves to a detour that isn't too awfully bad," he said. The detour will tie back into Perryville Road.

City engineer Mark Lester said Cape Rock Drive is being closed to through traffic to allow construction workers to connect a new sewer line to the existing sewer system.

'A big trench'

"Basically there will be a big trench across the street," he said.

The new sewer line is being laid east along the north side of Cape Rock Drive from Perryville Road to Parksite Drive.

Construction on the $241,000 project began a couple of weeks ago and should be completed by November, Lester said.

The new, 15-inch diameter sewer pipe will replace an old, leaking sewer line that has allowed storm water to get into the sewer system.

The new pipe also is larger than the old, 8-inch clay pipe.

The existing pipe, installed in the 1960s, is reaching capacity, Wiesner said.

City officials said the project involves burying 2,423 feet of sewer line and installing 11 manholes.

Wiesner said construction workers were able to bore beneath the street to install the sewer line under Perryville Road. But the contractor couldn't do so on Cape Rock Drive near Walker Branch because of rock in the ground, he said.

Jean Estes, who lives at 2126 Cape Rock Drive, said the sewer work will take place a short distance east of his driveway. "It will be a little bit of an inconvenience," he said.

But Estes said the work shouldn't cause any serious problems for him or his neighbors. "It is one of those things that you live with in life."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123