FLOOD CONTROL: CONGESTION OF TRAFFIC PRICE OF PROGRESS

Traffic congestion will be the price of progress as work begins this week on the next segment of the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood-control project in Cape Girardeau.

Ken Eftink of the city's planning services department said Wednesday that sections of Kingshighway and streets that connect to the northbound lane of the street will be closed as part of the flood-control work.

The first section of the Walker Branch project will include construction of a concrete creek channel from the confluence of Cape LaCroix and Walker north to the Broadway Street bridge.

"The contractor has received notice to proceed with construction, so the section of Kingshighway between Good Hope and William will have a lane closed," Eftink said. "They'll also start shortly on the new Town Plaza bridge over Walker Branch."

The contractor, Shappert Engineering of Rockford, Ill., will follow a traffic-control plan that will restrict traffic to one lane northbound on sections of Kingshighway affected by the work.

"It's only going to affect small sections of the highway at a time, but the work probably will run through late 1994," Eftink said. "We're also trying to stagger the bridge closings so that there won't be two bridges closed side by side to disrupt traffic that much more."

In addition to the closure of one lane of traffic on Kingshighway, Linda Street between William and Good Hope also will be closed.

There will be no right-turn lane east onto William from Kingshighway, but traffic will be allowed to make 90-degree turns in the intersection. Also, west bound traffic on Good Hope west of Plaza Way will be restricted to local traffic only.

Other traffic restrictions will be imposed as the work progresses northward.

"There will be signs showing that the road is closed ahead or that traffic will have to merge into the other lane on Kingshighway," Eftink said. "We're going to warn people that construction is ahead, which hopefully will allow people maybe to take a different route."

The $6.5 million project includes a 50-foot-wide concrete channel and the replacement of six bridges between William and Broadway.

The city is responsible for the bridge replacement costs, which are expected to total about $1.2 million. Local funding for the project is generated by a quarter-cent capital improvements tax passed by voters for flood control.

Eftink said the second segment of the Walker Branch project will commence at Broadway and proceed to Kingsway Drive. The final segment runs from Kingsway to the intersection of Cape Rock Drive and Perryville Road.

As soon as right of way is purchased the city also will begin work at a detention reservoir site north of the city limits.

"We're getting closer on that project," Eftink said. "We have to get our appraisals updated and make new offers to those property owners, but we anticipate doing that project while we work on the Walker Branch segment.

"We're looking at early 1996 for completion of the total project."

The project, a joint effort of the city and the Corps of Engineers, is expected to significantly reduce damages from flooding along both creeks.

"Despite the inconvenience to residents during construction," Eftink said, "the purpose of the project is so that we don't experience another flood like the one we had in 1986, or something worse."

Flash flooding in 1986 damaged many of the businesses in the Kingshighway commercial district, including Town Plaza. Also, several homes along Walker Branch were affected.

With a wider and deeper channel, the creeks will be able to carry more water and move it more quickly out of the area.

A section of the project along Cape LaCroix Creek was delayed this summer partly because of the weather and the conditions caused by Mississippi River backing into the creek.

"We'd like to be a little further along," said Eftink. "But considering the flood of '93 and its effect on Cape LaCroix Creek, we feel we're in a pretty good position now to proceed, hopefully with a completed project early in '96."