Veterans Memorial Drive project wraps up, street open to traffic

The Veterans Memorial Drive project has been completed, ending months of frustration for Cape Girardeau city officials over the slow pace of work by the contractor.

The contractor still faces fines for not finishing the project on time, city engineer Casey Brunke said.

Brunke said the street opened to traffic Monday without fanfare and months behind schedule.

Brunke said city officials have decided not to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

She said the contractor, R.L. Persons Construction Co. of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, still has a “punch list” of items to address, but the street and sidewalk paving has been finished.

A motorist approaches the Scenic Drive intersection Thursday on the new section of Veterans Memorial Drive in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

“We are glad it is open,” Brunke said.

Renee Shandy, who lives in the nearby Twin Lakes subdivision, welcomed the opening of the road.

“This is kind of nice,” she said, adding it reduces the amount of time it takes to travel to Jackson, where she previously lived.

She added she and her husband are “very happy” with the new road.

But she said she will be “more excited” when the city extends the road south to the Route K area in future years.

In addition to construction issues, the project was burdened with a lawsuit over condemnation of land owned by state Rep. Kathy Swan and her husband, Reg.

In June, the city agreed to pay an additional $45,300 to the Swans to settle the condemnation case.

The city previously paid $67,200 to the Swans.

The project extends the street paralleling Interstate 55 from Scenic Drive to Hopper Road.

The road improvements will allow motorists quicker access to North Kings-

highway and I-55 from surrounding subdivisions, according to city officials.

The extension of Veterans Memorial Drive also will open up commercial opportunities along the road, officials said in 2016.

Persons Construction was one of five bidders on the project and the low bidder. The company’s bid was well below the engineer’s estimate of $2.24 million.

The city council awarded the $1.68 million contract Jan. 19, 2016, despite the objection of then-councilwoman Loretta Schneider, who voiced uncertainty over the construction company’s quality of work.

The contract called for the work to be substantially completed by November 2016.

But Randy Persons, who owns the construction firm, said in May utility-relocation work delayed the start of the project.

City officials gave the contractor a four-month extension, ending in March. The contractor requested a second extension, which was denied.

The city began fining Persons Construction on March 13, according to deputy city manager Molly Hood.

Persons said in May his company would contest the fines.

Veterans Memorial Drive is one of the street projects funded with a voter-approved transportation trust-fund sales tax.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Veterans Memorial Drive and Scenic Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Veterans Memorial Drive and Hopper Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.