Two blocks of Independence Street closed for sewer work

Independence Street in Cape Girardeau will be closed between Fountain and Frederick streets this week as part of a sewer rehabilitation project. People with business at city hall are asked to use the west entrance at Middle Street.

Over half of the $312,000 project is being paid by an Environmental Protection Agency grant. The work will replace about 2,500 feet of sewer by lining the existing piping with new "flexpipe" designed to prevent leakage and corrosion.

"The pipe there was actually part of the old combined sewer system. It's oversized and was built so long ago that it leaked really bad and had a lot of cracks," said city engineer Jay Stencel. He said some areas of the line also has obsolete corrugated metal pipe.

The project will continue for the next three weeks, said Stencel, but will not require any additional road closures after Independence Street reopens.

Stencel said the replaced sewer area is like a large "T" shape that crosses Middle, Merriwether and Lorimier streets. It also takes in Happy Hollow, the wooded area behind the new Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. Federal Courthouse.

By hooking the new flexpipe to a chain and pulling it through the existing pipe, the city is avoiding more disruptive and costly sewer replacement work, Stencel said.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245