Cape celebrates downtown flood wall renovation

The wall protecting downtown Cape Girardeau from floodwaters along the Mississippi River should last at least another half century, thanks to a recently completed series of renovation and reconstruction projects.

Completion of the work, which took 15 years and cost almost $20 million, was celebrated Wednesday morning at a gathering next to the flood wall of city officials, representatives of the Corps of Engineers and other dignitaries.

"With proper maintenance, this wall can now last another 50 or 60 years without a lot of extra work," said Cape Girardeau public works director Stan Polivick. The project, he said, would not have been possible without cooperation and coordination among everyone involved — the Corps of Engineers, the city and various contractors.

"It's a tremendous achievement to have completed everything we said we were going to do," Polivick said.

Commander and district engineer of the St. Louis District Col. Kevin Golinghorst speaks about the group effort it took to complete the upgrade and maintenance of the flood wall and downtown pumping stations during a ceremony Wednesday at the Merriwether Street pumping station in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

Project planning began in 2006 and was done in multiple phases that included placement of rip rap along the river bank between the Merriwether Pumping Station and the flood wall's south railroad gate, refurbishment of pumps and motors at the city's pumping stations, upgrades and reinforcement work along the wall itself and replacement of about 600 feet of drain pipe that required relocation of 1,800 feet of railroad track over a 72-hour period in 2016.

The project involved "unimaginable real estate acquisition complexities, two-and-a-half years of high water, and the engineering feat of removing, relocating and reconstruction of the rail line within an amazingly short window of time," according to Col. Kevin Golinghorst, commander of the Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District.

Cape Girardeau Public Works director Stan Polivick speaks Wednesday about what the city and all those involved put into the project to complete the upgrades and maintenance of the flood wall and pumping stations at the Merriwether Street pumping station in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

Mayor Bob Fox said it's almost impossible to calculate how much flood damage the wall has prevented since it was completed in 1964.

"Many of us were not here, but we've seen pictures of what downtown Cape Girardeau looked like before the flood wall was built," he said. "Floods were devastating to the businesses and to the people who lived here."

More than $17 million of the $19.8 million project was paid by the federal government.

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