Work begins to illuminate Cape floodwall mural

After 12 years, lights are going up to illuminate the Mississippi River floodwall murals in downtown Cape Girardeau, thanks to long efforts by Old Town Cape and others.

Danny Essner, Old Town Cape board president, said 24 light fixtures will be installed over the next few weeks — one for each mural panel.

The wall is also being cleaned from one end to the other, he said.

“It will look a lot different during the day because of the cleaning, and will really look a lot different at night, with the lights,” Essner said.

When the murals were originally unveiled in 2005, Essner said, the murals were illuminated by lights on the ground, and that didn’t work out. Between vandalism and being hit by mowing equipment, the lights were not practical, Essner said.

About 12 years ago, the decision was made to illuminate the murals.

At the time, he said, cost estimates were considerably higher than today’s, with solar lights costing upward of $40,000 just for installation.

The project went to the back burner for about 10 years, and two years ago, Old Town Cape started looking at it again.

Cost wasn’t the only consideration, Essner said. Since the floodwall is in its jurisdiction, the Army Corps of Engineers had to be consulted, as did Burlington Northern Railroad, since the train tracks run close to the wall.

Fortunately, the Corps of Engineers came under new leadership last year, Essner said, and that made the process much easier.

“They issued us a permit good for five years to get those lights installed,” Essner said. “That was step one.”

Shawn Gunn uses a mixture of bleach and water to wash the Mississippi River Tales Mural on Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com

Funding was secured with the help of the City of Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Essner said.

And the murals needed to be cleaned, Essner said, so Shawn Gunn, owner of Premier House Wash in Cape Girardeau, researched the best way to clean the murals without damaging them.

The last obstacle was the railroad company. Federal law requires that when workers will be close to railroad tracks, as anyone working on the murals would be, a “flag man” must monitor the tracks for oncoming trains and alert the workers.

The catch is, the “flag man” has to be a railroad employee, at a rate of $1,000 per day.

For a 10-day project, that’s a $10,000 price tag that wasn’t part of the budget.

So, Essner said, some fundraising was in order.

First, Essner said, they asked the railroad company to donate the labor. That wasn’t an option, so the next step was a grant application from the Burlington Northern Foundation in May.

“We thought we’d hear something in 90 days, but we went to the website and found out it can take up to a year to get an answer,” Essner said. And, he said, the website stated anyone who called to check on a grant application’s status would be disqualified automatically.

“We decided we were tired of waiting,” Essner said. “We wanted to get the murals illuminated before the holiday season.”

Several local business people donated, Essner said, and they’re now ready to go.

“We purchased the fixtures last February,” Essner said.

If the Mississippi River had flooded this spring and summer, Essner said, the plan was to be ready to start the project at that time, since if the tracks were flooded, a flag man wouldn’t be needed — but the river never got high enough to close the tracks.

Enter Ameren. The electrical utility was also working on a project near the tracks, Essner said, and luckily the company agreed to share the flag man.

Essner said the lighting project will have three advantages:

One, there is already electrical service on top of the wall, from a prior project in the early 2000s. That means installation costs and time spent will be lower.

Two, the lights will be less susceptible to vandalism at 18 feet up.

Shawn Gunn with Premiere House Wash uses a mixture of bleach and water to wash the riverwall mural Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com

Three, the LED lights will operate at a low cost — only about $100 for a year of illumination, Essner said. They’ll be on the same timer as existing streetlights, and will come on at dusk and switch off at dawn.

The city will absorb the cost of illumination, Essner said.

Lance Cotner, owner of Lance Cotner Electric, is the contractor installing the lights. Lance Cotner worked with his father and uncle when they worked together as Cotner Electric, about 20 years ago. This project is using infrastructure that company put in place.

“We had a lot of people helping us on this project,” Essner said. “Everyone involved thinks this is a really cool project, and one that will make a big visual impact on Water Street.”

From a tourism standpoint, the floodwall mural is a major attraction for visitors from out of town, Essner said.

“Now, if they go at night, they’ll be able to see them after dark.”

And, as a side benefit, light will spill over to the sidewalk on Water Street, so the route from parking areas to businesses facing that street will be better lit.

A flip-the-switch celebration is planned at Themis and Water streets, Essner said. Details will be released closer to the event.

Terrence Lipps lays electrical conduit on top the Riverwall while Lance Cotner supervises Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com