STREET CLOSED AS ROUTE PROCEEDS

Construction crews closed three blocks of College Street, from Sprigg to Benton Streets, on Monday to prepare for the new Route 74 that will be part of the new Mississippi River bridge route in Cape Girardeau.

"The streets and alleys intersecting College, including Ellis, Pacific and Beaudean Streets, have all been blockaded," said Allen Friedrich of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department's construction division.

College Street traffic between Sprigg and Benton is detoured to Jefferson Street, one block north of College, said Friedrich.

The street closures will allow the contractor to begin demolition of condemned houses in the bridge route corridor. Other work will include clearing and grading for the new street and relocating of storm sewers and utilities.

Bangert Brothers Construction Co. of St. Louis is the primary contractor for this segment of the project, which will run from Kingshighway to South Sprigg.

Included in the $9.1 million contract are intersections at Kingshighway, Minnesota Avenue, West End Boulevard. and Sprigg Street. All of the intersections except Minnesota will be signalized.

Construction of new Route 74, which will consist of four, 12-foot lanes with 10-foot wide shoulders and a 16-foot median, will begin this year, and is slated for completion in late 1996.

Between 15 and 20 houses will be razed along the three-block section. Bloomsdale Excavating Co. will do the house demolitions.

College Street will remain closed until some north and south connections are completed.

Those connections will link Pacific to Ellis on both sides of the new Route 74, Friedrich said.

The three-block section of work is scheduled for completion by late summer or early fall this year, Friedrich said.

Future projects involving the new Mississippi River bridge include finishing the construction of the new interchange at Interstate 55 and construction of the roadway between the interchange and Kingshighway and from Sprigg Street to the new bridge.