Updates

Restaurants

License revoked

An order revoking the liquor license for Jeremiah's bar, 127 Water St. in Cape Girardeau, was issued after no one representing the establishment appeared for a hearing on a February violation, state liquor control supervisor Peter Lobdell.

Jeremiah's operates with a special condition attached to its license -- no one younger than 21 is supposed to be on the premises after 11 p.m. When the bar was cited Feb. 10 for allowing a minor to drink, the citation was issued after 11 p.m., Lobdell said.

An informal hearing was held Sept. 18 in Cape Girardeau. After owner Donald Ganim failed to appear and sent no representation, the order revoking the license as of Nov. 9 was issued, Lobdell said. "The minor was drinking and there weren't even supposed to be minors in there," he said.

Jeremiah's will be allowed to remain open pending appeal and could remain open if it is sold to someone with no connections to the current operators, Lobdell said.

Ganim said he plans to appeal and has a buyer under contract to take over the bar. If the sale closes as expected, he said, his last day as proprietor will be Nov. 3.

"The only reason I am doing this is to save my name so I can open up something in the future if I want to," he said.

Cape pool hall's liquor license to be suspended

The Billiard Center, a Cape Girardeau pool hall at 26 N. Main St., was given a 15-day suspension of its liquor license as a result of drug sales that resulted in the February arrest of four people, including the manager.

The suspension took effect Nov. 16. Owner Loi Ha said he considers the suspension a fair penalty, perhaps even lenient.

Ha said he's had only two citations for underage drinking after 17 years in business -- helped keep the penalty to a suspension, he said.

On Feb. 16, James W. Dodd was arrested after an undercover officer witnessed him purchasing 120 OxyContin pills from two Poplar Bluff, Mo., men. Dodd was manager of the Billiard Center at the time. In August, Dodd pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and distributing a controlled substance, was given a suspended sentence and placed on probation for five years.

The state Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control imposed the suspension, which came after an informal hearing on the violations held Sept. 18 in Cape Girardeau, said Steve Shimmens, chief of enforcement for the division.

The Billiard Center rents time on its pool tables and sells food in addition to alcohol, and could remain in business during the suspension. Since the arrests, Ha said, he has installed 15 cameras to keep an eye on events in the pool hall. He's also spending more time at the business, he said.

Dodd is no longer employed at the pool hall, Ha said.

transportation

Construction far ahead of schedule

While the timing of the development plan at the new Interstate 55 interchange is uncertain, construction at the site has accelerated to the point where motorists will be using it far earlier than planned, Missouri Department of Transportation project manager Andy Meyer said Wednesday.

Original estimates called for the project to be completed next summer. Motorists will be using the new southbound bridge over what Jackson calls East Main Street and Cape Girardeau calls LaSalle Avenue sometime in November. Traffic will no longer be confined to a single lane around the construction, Meyer said.

In mid-October, concrete was poured for the southbound off-ramp. Crews then started paving the 1,500-foot stretch connecting the interchange to East Main Street, which was finished earlier this year.

Jackson has already hired Koehler Engineering to design the new outer road that will connect East Main Street to Center Junction, a route that will include Orchard Road. The interchange is being built with federal highway funds. Congress in 2005 earmarked $10.8 million for the project at the request of Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, Sen. Kit Bond and then-Sen. Jim Talent. The interchange is costing $8.5 million, and Cape Girardeau and Jackson are splitting the remainder to help build outer roads.

But Cape Girardeau has yet to acquire all the rights of way needed to construct LaSalle Avenue, much less begin construction of the road connecting the interchange to Route W. The property acquisition is in the final stages, Mayor Jay Knudtson said.

LaSalle Avenue should be in place in 12 to 18 months, Knudtson said.

Road development plans for Ste. Genevieve County

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Holcim U.S. is opening North America's largest cement manufacturing plant in Ste. Genevieve County by the end of 2009, thus bringing major transportation needs to the area.

According to a Missouri Department of Transportation new release, the agency is working to improve the roadways adjacent to the plant so that, once completed, commercial traffic should have improved access from both the north and the south. Three projects are currently in the works to ensure that happens:

• U.S. Highway 61 will undergo concrete resurfacing from its junction with Interstate 55 at exit 170 south to Route OO. Bids are expected to be accepted in December with work beginning next spring if awarded.
• Improvements also are planned to Route TT just north of the Ste. Genevieve County line to provide access to I-55. Bids are anticipated next summer.
• Improved alignment as well as widening and resurfacing are being planned for Route OO from I-55 to Highway 61.

Bids could be accepted in fall 2008 with construction taking place during the summer of 2009.

Once these projects are completed, the improved access will allow the traffic heading toward the plant to use the interstate and either Route TT or Route OO to travel to Highway 61, then use Highway 61 to access the plant.

Federal money aids area roads

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- U.S. Highway 61 in Ste. Genevieve, Perry and Cape Girardeau counties is benefiting thanks to a new federal program aimed at improving safety on rural roads.

The Federal Highway Administration's High Risk Rural Roads program will provide MoDOT $13 million during a five-year period to make improvements on rural roads with high severe crash rates.

Highway 61 is the first recipient in Southeast Missouri to receive a portion of the funding to help with safety improvements.

Those improvements include adding three-foot shoulders and resurfacing the shoulders along rural sections of Highway 61 from north of the city limits of Bloomsdale to Fruitland.

"MoDOT analyzed crash data and worked with local regional planning commissions to determine the greatest needs across the state," MoDOT traffic engineer Craig Compas said. "We are very excited to receive the funding to make these safety improvements on U.S. 61 a reality, and we anticipate additional improvements in Southeast Missouri as a result of the High Risk Rural Roads (HRRR) program."

Compas says a complete listing of all projects selected is not yet available; however, $1.2 million has been secured for the U.S. 61 improvements.

The work is expected to start next spring at the northern end of the project and move south. MoDOT maintenance forces are performing some preparation work now in Perry County.

Bridge work helps town

BLOOMSDALE, Mo. -- Bloomsdale is benefiting in more ways than one from a future construction project to replace the Establishment Creek Bridge on U.S. Highway 61.

MoDOT plans to replace the bridge and close the road during construction. While a road closure doesn't seem like much of a benefit, this plan will actually help make improvements to the city's emergency services.

"During the course of our public involvement on the project, we discovered that the road closure actually severs emergency services from a majority of the service area," project manager Andy Meyer said, "and the detour adds 15 to 20 minutes to response time."

Meyer said MoDOT still had good reasons for opting for a road closure.

"We can bet a much better price by closing the road, saving approximately a half-million dollars," he explains. "With many transportation needs across the state and few dollars available, the road closure was the most likely method for getting this much needed bridge replacement."

Not wanting to forsake one safety issue for another, Meyer said MoDOT worked with the Bloomsdale Volunteer Fire Department and state Rep. Joe Fallert, D-Ste. Genevieve to find a solution.

"MoDOT will lease a fire truck during construction to keep at a business owned by one of the firemen located south of the bridge," Meyer said. "The four firemen who live south of the bridge will man the truck and respond to calls during three to four month closure. The fire department plans to buy the truck after the project less the amount of the lease. It's a great example of invaluable partnerships during our project development process when we work with elected officials and the community."

Bids are expected to be accepted on the project in spring 2009.

Money requested for bridges

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A total of $300 million to $500 million over the next 10 years will be required for the Missouri Department of Transportation to address the most pressing needs of its major bridges, MoDOT chief engineer Kevin Keith told the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.

There are 203 such structures in the state--those more than 1,000-feet long--53 of which span either the Missouri or Mississippi rivers, including the U.S. Highway 51 bridge that connects Perryville and Chester, Ill.

On average, the bridges are 33 years old and carry 21,000 vehicles per day. While they represent only three percent of the span-type bridges in the state, they account for 25 percent of the driving surface of all MoDOT bridges.

"These bridges are a major investment, and we need to do more to keep them in good shape," Keith told commissioners. "It would cost $7 billion to replace all of them. But with proper maintenance, many of these bridges can safely carry traffic for 100 years."

MoDOT's construction program for the next five years includes projects to improve only 41 major bridges.

But a MoDOT team that has been analyzing major bridge needs since January concluded that an additional investment of $300 million to $500 million is needed over the next 10 years to raise all major bridges to "satisfactory" condition.

"At the $300 million level, we'll be able to eliminate emergency closures due to deterioration and provide a minimum roadway width of 24 feet on the bridges that have two-way traffic. At the $500 million level, we'd also be able to replace another seven to 11 major bridges that really need it," Keith said.

The Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement Program will repair 802 of Missouri's most worn-out bridges, but those are mostly smaller structures, with an average length of 150 feet.

The Highway 51 bridge over the Mississippi River in Perry County carries 7,300 vehicles a day and is considered structurally safe, but functionally obsolete after 60 years.