CAPE BRIDGE PROJECT PROGRESSING ON SCHEDULE

SIKESTON -- Cutbacks in federal highway funds and the prolonged flood of 1993 affected several highway construction projects in Southeast Missouri this year.

But Freeman McCullah, district highway engineer for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, said three area projects are progressing nearly on schedule.

They include:

-- A new Highway 74 Mississippi River bride route in Cape Girardeau.

-- Final plans for the extension of Nash Road from I-55 to the Southeast Missouri Regional Port on the Mississippi at Gray's Point.

-- Widening to four lanes Route 60 between Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

In Cape Girardeau, earthwork began in August for the Highway 74 interchange with I-55, at the southwest edge of Cape Girardeau.

"That (earthwork) project is about 40 percent complete, and will continue through the next construction season," said McCullah. "The dirt must have sufficient time to compact before any other work can be done.

"After all of the earth work is completed, it will take at least one year for it compact to where it's ready for paving. This is why it will seem like the project is taking longer than normal to completed."

McCullah said acquisition of right-of-way through Cape Girardeau for the bridge route is still on schedule.

"We have acquired 108 of the 134 residential and commercial tracts needed for the right-of-way," he said. "To break that down, all 43 tracts between the river and South Sprigg Street are now owned by the state, along with all of the land needed for the new interchange with I-55."

Between South Sprigg and I-55, the state has purchased 54 of the 80. The total land acquisition tab this year comes to about $4.5 million, McCullah said.

Despite the bridge route progress, McCullah said federal budget cuts did delay work planned for twin Highway 74 bridges over Cape LaCroix Creek.

"We expect to let the contracts for those bridges in April 1994," he said. "We had to delay the work this year because $60 million of federal highway money was withheld from Missouri in 1992 and another $60 million this year."

But McCullah remains optimistic the Highway 74 bridge route will be completed on schedule.

"We do not anticipate any significant delays in completing the bridge route. However, if the federal government continues to withhold highway trust funds it could delay completion of this project by several years, and other highway construction and improvement projects in the rest of the state."

Meanwhile, earthwork on the bridge route right-of-way between West End Boulevard and Minnesota began this year. The work is being done in conjunction with construction of the softball diamond complex at the north edge of Shawnee Park. The north end of the park will abut the new highway.

McCullah said dirt removed by the contractor from the right-of-way is being used as fill for the ball diamonds.

"By allowing the city to go ahead and take out the dirt that we would have had to remove anyway will save the state additional time and money in completing the overall bridge route project," he said.

The Nash Road project should move into the right-of-way acquisition phase next year, McCullah said.

"As soon as the environmental documents have been completed, we plan to hold a public meeting early next year to gather comments on the project," he said McCullah. "If everything goes well, we'll start acquiring right-of-way immediately, which should not take very long."

McCullah said the highway department hopes to award a contract for the first phase of the port road project in early 1994, with construction to begin in the spring.

The road is expected to be completed in 1996 -- if the Mississippi River cooperates. McCullah said that's a big "if."

"When the river is out of its banks and the water is over the right-of-way, very little work can be done, which would delay the completion of the road," he said.

McCullah said the port road will be built to an elevation of a 100-year flood.

"We decided to build it at that elevation because anything higher and the port is out of operation because of high water," said McCullah. "If the port isn't open, it makes no sense to have the road open either."

In addition to serving the port, McCullah said extension of East Nash Road will allow Scott City to connect one or more of its streets northward with the new port road, giving the city an alternate route in and out of town.

The only main access route in Scott City now is the congested I-55/Main Street interchange at the west end of town.

The Route 60 project, when completed, will provide four-lane access between Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

A $12.3 million project to build a new 60/I-55/I-57 overpass at Sikeston widen to four lanes Highway 60 between Sikeston and Morehouse recently was completed.

One of the projects that was delayed this year is the renovation and repainting of the Mississippi River bridge at Chester, Ill., a.

Missouri has an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation to share the cost of the work.

But the project last year ground to a standstill because of new, strict federal Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) regulations.

McCullah said the EPA requires that all lead-based paint chips sandblasted off the bridge be captured and disposed of at an approved site.

"We're trying to find an economical and reasonable way to satisfy the EPA and still get the job done to preserve the integrity of the bridge," he said. "We were able to resurface the Illinois approach to the bridge after the state removed the old toll house in Chester."

Missouri's share of funding for highway construction comes from a graduated six-cent increase in the gasoline tax. The tax, approved in February of last year, will be phased in over five years.

Another source of state funding is Proposition A, 4-cent increase in the gasoline tax approved in 1987 to fund projects over a 10-year period.