Cape receives grants for bridge overlook

The funds will also help pay for decorative street lights.

Cape Girardeau will build a scenic Mississippi River overlook and add decorative street lights to the city's downtown with funding from two federal transportation grants, city officials said Wednesday.

City officials estimated the work would cost more than $471,000, with the bulk of it earmarked for the overlook project.

The grants would pay $376,000 of the cost: $342,000 for the overlook project and $34,000 for the street lighting work.

The city's Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Old Town Cape redevelopment organization would pay the remaining cost of more than $95,000.

The CVB would pay nearly $87,000 toward the scenic overlook project. Old Town Cape would contribute $8,589 for the street lighting work.

City planner Kent Bratton said the street lighting project could begin later this year if all the administrative paperwork has been completed. "The lighting is pretty straightforward," he said.

"It will probably get done first," Bratton said.

The Mississippi River overlook project is expected to get underway by next spring. Bratton said he hopes it can be finished by next summer's tourist season.

The new overlook will include restoration of the old bridge remnant at the end of Morgan Oak Street and construction of a new, ground-level observation area on the bluff overlooking Aquami Street.

The observation area would include a bronze plaque listing all those who donated money to buy the decorative lights on the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, said Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner.

The proposed observation terrace would include a viewing scope to allow visitors to take a closer look at the river.

Informational signboards or plaques could be erected to detail some of the history of the former river bridge.

But Bratton said the final design details still need to be worked out. That won't happen until all the administrative paperwork is finished.

The city can't commit to any expenses for the project until then, he said.

The Missouri Department of Transportation awarded the federally funded transportation enhancement grants.