SEWER WORK TO IMPOSE MORE DETOURS

Now that William Street is clear, be prepared to take a detour on Independence.

As work proceeds on Cape Girardeau's $25 million project to upgrade the sewer system in older parts of town, motorists can expect more disruptions.

Possibly as early as today, eastbound traffic will leave Independence at Henderson Avenue and follow Merriwether to Benton to allow construction workers to put in a new storm sewer on Independence. Westbound traffic will use a single lane that will remain open.

That work signals the beginning of the end of the $2.78 million College-Henderson-South project, the first segment of the sewer renovation to be close to completion, said John Bennett of Sverdrup Civil, an engineering consultant to the city.

Engineers named the sewer projects after landmarks close to where sewers overflow into creeks. For example, when heavy rains hit early Monday, the sewers of the College-Henderson-South area overflowed and untreated waste flowed into Painter Spring Branch near the intersection of College Street and Henderson Avenue, Bennett said.

The point of the project is to build separate mains for sewage from homes and stormwater runoff like the ones in the newer parts of the city. Stormwater can run into creeks, but sewage from homes and businesses will always flow to the city's sewage treatment plant, Bennett said.

The city plans to end that problem with sewer construction lasting through 1999, said City Manager Michael Miller.

Even before contractors complete College-Henderson South, workers should start on the Fort D project. Bennett expects the City Council to award that contract at its meeting July 7.

That means construction workers should start work soon in the area bounded roughly by Benton Street on the west, Morgan Oak on the north, Hackberry on the south and the Mississippi River on the east.

Slated for bid in August is the College-Henderson North project, which would extend as far north as Dempster Hall of Business on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Miller said the plan to bring the entire sewer system up to date, with new pumping stations as well as dual sewer mains, is the most ambitious project of its kind he has ever been a part of in his career as a city administrator.

He said that doing it all at once is easier "because those things are all connected, and to do it all separately is a mess."

In addition, the city is trying to minimize the disruption to traffic by using trenchless technology. Instead of digging up the entire street, workers sink vertical shafts no wider than eight feet in diameter that are 120 feet apart and drill tunnels connecting them. That way the city saves the expense of rebuilding the entire street when the sewers are completed.