Work on Broadway stormwater project delayed by weather

Inclement winter weather has led to several problems around Cape Girardeau. Perhaps one of the most obvious is the delay it's caused in work along the 200 block of Merriwether Street, which is part of the Broadway Stormwater Relief project.

During heavy downpours, water backs up along the sides of Broadway, creating shallow pools as it slowly enters the drainage system. The stormwater relief project will install new pipes underground to convey that water to the Merriwether storm tunnel.

City engineer Casey Brunke said work on the project began last year between late November and early December. It was expected to take about a month to complete, but snow, ice and multiple days of below-freezing temperatures have caused delays.

"[The weather] has slowed down not just that project, but all of our projects," Brunke said.

She also said it's a risk the city takes when it approves such projects.

When the city negotiates a contract with outside vendors to complete any work, Brunke said it outlines a specific number of days in which the project should be complete. The contract for the stormwater relief project, as with all contracts, included "weather days," but she said they likely have "far exceeded" those days.

Brunke said the contractor, R.L. Persons Construction Co. of Poplar Bluff, Mo., has worked well with the city and she does not foresee any problems as the two work out extension deadlines. But as winter storms and cold weather continue to blanket the area, she said it's difficult to say when the project will be complete.

"We don't control the weather," Brunke said.

Even on sunny days, conditions often remain unimproved in the deep holes crews dug into the streets to access the sewer pipes.

"It might look like beautiful weather, but then the crews get down into those trenches and there might still be two inches of ice down there," Brunke said. "The sun is shining but it's still below-freezing temperatures, and this weather just isn't conducive to working outdoors. We want them to be safe and with this weather it just isn't."

As the city and construction crews work out their issues with the project, Don Greenwood, whose home is about seven feet from the large hole in Merriwether Street, is trying to work out a few of his own.

He and his wife, Roseanna Whitlow-Greenwood, live in a 130-year-old historic home; they've restored half the home and have plans to restore the other half in the near future. About 10 years ago, Greenwood said work was done that required breaking up the street in front of their home and it caused the new Sheetrock in the house to crack open and separate from the rafters. This time, he said crews are using a different method and "sparingly" use jackhammers, but as the project drags on, Greenwood said he still is worried about the effect it could have on the house.

When work is done down in the trenches, he said the house will "shake like an earthquake."

"My biggest concern now is about the structural integrity of the house ... because the earth has been shaken repeatedly for three months now," Greenwood said.

Inside the house, there are places in the floor that have sunk about one inch and the Sheetrock again is beginning to separate from the rafters, he said.

Greenwood has approached the city and the contractor with his concerns and he said he now is working with the contractor's insurance representative.

"The city has been really helpful and polite up to this point," he said. "Even the workers are very nice and doing the best they can. We're just very concerned about the house; it's a very historic place."

As the project continues, Brunke said work will continue east until it reaches the dead end of Merriwether Street "then will take a 90-degree turn and come up the hill behind city hall."

"It's going to effect a lot of people," Greenwood said of the project's future. "We probably have the oldest house on the street, but there are still some pretty old houses here."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

200 block of Merriwether St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.