LEXINGTON CONTRACTOR RACES TIME, ELEMENTS

Workers are battling elements and the clock to complete a section of Lexington Avenue between Perryville Road and Concord Place.

Kelley Equipment Co. of Cape Girardeau is the general contractor for the project, and Vince Kelley said the section of street could be finished in "six to 10 working days," if the weather cooperates.

Lappe Cement Finishing Co. of Perryville was hired by Kelley to pave the street, and the subcontractor has completed one lane of the 36-foot-wide street.

"They connected the two ends (Thursday), and they're trying to get the intersection work done at Perryville Road," Kelley said. "It's really been held up by the rain, but they're starting down the hill to tie in the other lane with form work.

"If this rain will hold off, hopefully with about two or three pours they can have that done."

Cape Girardeau City Engineer J. Kensey Russell said wet weather delayed construction this fall. Now, freezing winter weather threatens to delay completion of the project until spring.

"Rain doesn't really affect the curing process for concrete, but freezing weather does," Russell said. "But we're going to encourage the contractor to keep pecking away at it.

"The city and contractor are both interested in getting the job completed as soon as possible, and everybody is keeping a watch on the weather."

Russell said the initial deadline for completion of the work is today, but some time might have been added to the contract because of change orders in the project.

Kelley said he thought the deadline is "around the end of December.

"If we get good weather, we'll be able to make that," he said. "We're going to keep working as long as we can."

Once a section is poured, it takes about seven days for the concrete to cure properly. Given favorable weather, Kelley said the street should be opened by the first of the year.

Russell said it's not only in the city's interest to get the work done before January.

"It's a job for which (Kelley's) prices from suppliers and that sort of thing may or may not hold over the first of the year, so there are the usual business pressures on him to get the job done," Russell said.

Once completed, the short segment of Lexington will connect the new street with the existing Lexington over to Cape Rock Drive.

The short existing stretch of Lexington from Cape Rock east was widened from 30 feet to 36 feet earlier this year.

The Lexington project was delayed this summer because of storm sewer and drainage work that had to be done. Once that work was finished in early September, the rains came, which delayed excavation for the new street.

The progress on the latest section of the arterial street, although slow, hasn't held up construction of the street further east.

That's because the city still is negotiating with property owners to purchase the needed rights of way for the next major section of the route -- from Cape Rock Drive east to Old Sprigg Street Road at Melody Lane.

Last January, City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said he hoped the negotiations would be completed in the spring.

But Russell said those talks now are nearly a year behind schedule.

Melody Lane, now a gravel road, will be the corridor for the extension of Lexington to Highway 177. Construction of that section will correspond with a northern extension of Sprigg Street from Bertling to Lexington.

Russell said the engineering design for the entire project -- complete to Highway 177 -- is finished and awaits only right-of-way acquisition before contracts may be let. The entire $4 million arterial project initially was slated for completion in 1994.

But until the city acquires the right of way, the project likely will drag well into 1995.

"We did hit a snag with some of the survey work," Russell said. "Missouri Land Surveyors is assisting us with identifying the proper location of a section corner before we can proceed with that land acquisition.

"The plans and specs are ready to advertise, but we have to have the property in hand," Russell added. "The piece on over to Sprigg is very close, though."