Stormwater project to close Hopper intersection at Kingshighway this summer

A project to improve stormwater drainage will force the closure of the Hopper Road and Kingshighway intersection for several months this summer, Cape Girardeau city public works director Stan Polivick said.

Construction won’t begin until after school ends, he said, explaining the timetable is designed to avoid the extra traffic on Hopper Road at Clippard Elementary School.

Construction will begin no later than June 1 and be completed by mid-August, Polivick said.

The project will force the closure of the Hopper Road entrance to Dunkin’ Donuts during the construction period. But Polivick said customers still will be able to access the business from Kingshighway.

The city council recently awarded a $349,587 contract to Nip Kelley Equipment Co. for the Hopper Road box culvert project. Kelley submitted the low bid, which was well under the engineer’s estimate of more than $558,000.

An overturned table creates a waterfall in a drainage ditch July 6, 2016, behind Frank Sitze's house on Stewart Drive in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian file

The project involves installing a larger box culvert under Hopper Road, Polivick said. Hopper Road pavement will have to be removed and replaced as part of the construction work.

Stormwater in Arena Creek now flows into a smaller culvert running under Hopper Road and empties into a drainage ditch along Kingshighway.

Residents along Stewart Drive have complained for years of stormwater from the creek swamping their backyards during heavy rains.

City officials promised residents in advance of a parks/stormwater tax vote last year passage of the measure would fund several projects, including the Hopper Road project.

Then-Mayor Harry Rediger told residents in March 2018 the project should alleviate some, but not all, of the flash-flooding problems in the neighborhood.

Stewart Drive residents said last year the creek is full of limbs and other debris including washers and dryers. Residents pointed to a table and several large trees that clogged up one area of the creek.

Rediger said at the time the city cannot clean out the creek because the city has no drainage easements there. The creek, he said, is the responsibility of the property owners.

Polivick said the precast, concrete box culvert “should provide some relief to all those properties upstream.” He added, “It will carry a larger rain event.”

The project involves 300 linear feet of 10-foot-by-4-foot box culvert.

Plans call for keeping the existing drainage structure in place while construction proceeds on the new culvert, Polivick said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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