Three big Cape road projects start this construction season

Three big-ticket Cape Girardeau road construction projects are slated to begin this building season, including the highly-touted Broadway Corridor next month. But also on tap: The long-delayed Armstrong Drive that promises to be similar to Siemers Drive, and the next stretch of Veterans Memorial Drive, another segment of the city's outer road system.

The summer construction season also is scheduled to include a slew of other projects, including trail connections, sidewalks and a Main Street repaving.

Of the big three, only Broadway's time frame is determined, said city engineer Casey Brunke. But work on the other two should at least get started before the warmer weather turns cold.

"Our summers are always busier than the rest of the year," Brunke said. "It's just the time that's best for construction."

First up is Broadway, which is probably about a month from a construction start, according to Brunke. Bids for the $3.85 million construction project are to be opened Wednesday, she said, with the contract awarded the following week. Two weeks after that, she said, work will hopefully be started on the project that will widen Broadway from Pacific to Water streets.

More details have surfaced about how the city intends to curb any road closures during the roughly seven-month project. Brunke said "strict language" has been included into the contract, such as no more than two blocks can be closed at a time. No single block, she said, can be closed for more than three weeks.

While all city projects are important, Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger said that Broadway is the "number one" project this year.

"It's on a fast track," he said. "Broadway needs to be open and complete by the time the casino opens this fall."

Isle of Capri's new $125 million casino is scheduled to be finished by fall.

Veterans Memorial Drive which ends at Scenic Drive is seen Saturday. The road is planned to stretch to Hopper Road. (Fred Lynch)

The city is "orchestrating" the Broadway construction, which also calls for removing both sides of the sidewalk and replacing the north-side sidewalk with a 15-foot pedestrian promenade. The Broadway work is to start at Water Street and continue west, Rediger said.

"We want it to cause the least possible damage to businesses and their customers as possible," Rediger said.

To that end, he said, construction will take place on one block while the second block is made ready, he said. Hopefully, that will streamline the process and make the work move seamlessly -- and quickly -- down the roadway.

Broadway may be the highest profile project, but the other two are important as well, Brunke said. Broadway is the first project to be paid for from Transportation Trust Fund IV, a voter-approved half-cent sales tax that has been reconfirmed every five years.

But there's one project that remains from TTF-III -- the $2 million Armstrong Drive. As proposed, Armstrong Drive would run west of Siemers Drive, starting on the south at Siemers and end on the north at Route K, about a quarter-mile west of Walmart. City officials say Armstrong has the potential to mirror Siemers Drive, the highly developed link between Route K and Bloomfield Road.

Some of the property right of way has yet to be acquired, Brunke said, but they are still working on it. Still, she said, they have enough to at least get started working this year while negotiations continue.

"I think we'll probably get a part of Armstrong built," she said.

If Armstrong is somewhat uncertain for this year, Veterans Memorial Drive isn't. The next phase will begin sometime later this year, Brunke said, though an exact construction start hasn't been set. The $2.5 million project will create about a mile of roadway from LaSalle Avenue to Bainbridge Road in the northern part of town. The overall project has been done in sections, with phase four, from Kingshighway to Scenic Drive, finished first last year. Technically, the work being done this year is phase one. The two middle sections are to be phases two and three and will likely be the last to be completed as they are as yet unfunded. Rediger has said, though, that they will be included in future TTFs.

The $3 million phase five, from Scenic Drive to Hopper Road, was approved by voters in TTF-4 in 2010 and is included in that five-year list of projects. The already completed $1.3 million phase four was part of TTF-3. Only phase one is not being paid for with TTF dollars, instead from a mix of state and federal money, Brunke said.

When completed, Veterans Memorial Drive's first five phases will take the roadway from LaSalle Avenue to Hopper Road. City officials have estimated that it will be upward of 10 years before the entire project is completed.

"We're piecing together our outer road system with these Veteran Memorial Drive projects," Brunke said.

There are other smaller projects this summer, she said.

An overlay project on Main Street will repave the road from Broadway to the entrance of the casino. Starting Tuesday, Big Bend Road will be grinded to remove bumps from the driving lanes.

A $162,000 project will connect Cape La Croix Recreational Trail to Shawnee Park. About $200,000 will be used to construct sidewalks in the victinity of several area elementary schools and the middle school.

The Public Works Department also has a few projects scheduled, including some road repairs that begin today on Sprigg Street. The repairs will be along the 2400 block of South Sprigg Street, just south of Cape LaCroix Creek, with that phase completed by Friday. The second phase of South Sprigg Street repairs begins April 2, south of Petroleum Road. This longer phase is expected to last through April 30, weather permitting.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

Armstrong Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO

Veterans Memorial Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO