Preliminary construction associated with an $89 million Cape Girardeau Mississippi River bridge and cross-city highway project is scheduled to begin late this year, said a designer for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department.

Tom Stehn, the department's District 10 chief designer at Sikeston, said Tuesday that work on the highway will start where Highway 74 is to be relocated to form an interchange with I-55.

"The work there will only consist of grading and earthwork," said Stehn. "There will be no actual construction involved."

Stehn also said a number of area highway improvement projects are scheduled for bid openings in Jefferson City Jan. 7 and 31.

With expiration of the National Highway Transportation Act last fall, bid lettings for October and December projects were canceled because of a lack of funds, he said. "We've got some catching up to do," said Stehn.

Stehn said of the Highway 74 relocation that sufficient time must be allowed for dirt at the interchange to settle and become compact. He pointed out that the interchange will be in a swampy bottom near Ramsey Creek.

"We anticipate it will take one to two years for the dirt for the (interchange) bridge approaches and interchange traffic lanes and right of way to settle before actual construction work can begin," Stehn explained.

Most of the rights of way have been acquired from the Mississippi River west to Kingshighway, Stehn said. The department is beginning to acquire rights of way from Kingshighway west to the interstate, he said.

"Once we acquire that portion of the right of way, we will focus our attention on the interchange with the interstate," he said.

The four-lane Route 74 is to connect with I-55 about 1,700 feet south of the Bloomfield Road overpass. It will run northeasterly from there before curving easterly and intersecting with South Kingshighway about 200 feet south of Hickory.

From there it will go easterly and then northeasterly, intersecting with Minnesota about 170 feet south of Brink. Then it will go northeasterly, crossing South West End Boulevard about 350 feet south of College Street. Then it will align with College and follow it easterly to its end, where an approach to the bridge will be built.

The bridge, which will contain four lanes and will be situated just to the south of the existing span, is scheduled to open before the end of the century.

Stehn said the projects to be let Jan. 7 consist of resurfacing work and minor shoulder and bridge improvements.

"We want to get the quarries and the asphalt plants back to work," he said. "The Jan. 31 bid letting is our normally scheduled time at the end of the month. After January, we will revert back to the once-a-month bid letting at the end of the month."

Stehn said the Jan. 7 bid openings on projects scheduled in the area include:

Scott County: Approximately 11.2 miles of cold milling, resurfacing, shoulder work and minor intersection revisions along Highway 61 from Highway 77 at Benton south to Sikeston.

Stehn said along with that project are two, one-inch asphalt overlay projects: Route N, approximately six miles, from 2.1 miles east of Route NN to Charleston; and Mississippi County Route UU, approximately 5.4 miles, from Route 62 to Route D south of Charleston.

Total cost of those projects is estimated at $2.2 million.

Scott-Mississippi counties: Approximately 15 miles of resurfacing, bridge rehabilitation and shoulder work along Highway 62 from the I-55 overpass at Sikeston east to the city limits of Bertrand.

Stehn said two, one-inch overlay projects are also included in the project: Approximately 11 miles of Route E from Route H east of Canalou to Route D; and along 21.2 miles of Route D from Highway 25 north of Malden east to Highway 61 at Howardville.

Estimated cost of those projects is $2.8 million.

Projects that will be bid on Jan. 31 involve new construction and improvements, Stehn said. A major project in that bid opening is Highway 60 widening work from Sikeston west to near Morehouse.

Stehn said the first part of the project will include construction of three new bridges and widening of one box culvert to prepare for the widening of Highway 60 from two to four lanes between Sikeston and Route E near Morehouse.

Estimated cost is $1.2 million.

Stehn said the second phase of the project, grading and earthwork for the additional lanes, will begin in next summer. That will also include construction of the Highway 60-61 interchange at Sikeston.

Estimated cost of the second phase is $7.8 million.

The third phase of the project, scheduled to begin in 1994, will consist of paving of the additional traffic lanes, resurfacing of the existing pavement between Sikeston and Route E, and rehabilitation of existing bridges.

Estimated cost of the third phase is $7.5 million.

Stehn said the project is part of an overall plan to make Highway 60 a four-lane route from Sikeston to Poplar Bluff and westward.

Another project scheduled for the Jan. 31 bid opening is in Cape Girardeau County. It involves construction of a Highway 177 bridge over Big Flora Creek at Egypt Mills at an estimated cost of $630,000. The existing bridge was built in 1935.

Approximately 132 miles of existing highway improvements will be included in the Jan. 7 openings. They will consist of a one-inch overlay of asphalt on existing surfaces. Total cost of the work is estimated at $2.4 million.

The improvements include:

Cape Girardeau County Route W: Approximately 9.3 miles from Route 177 near Fruitland south to Cape Girardeau at a new North Kingshighway-Mount Auburn-Lexington intersection.

Bollinger County Route 51: Approximately 6.3 miles from the Perry County line south to the Highway 72-51 junction near Patton.

Bollinger-Stoddard counties Route 51: Approximately 16 miles from Puxico to the Highway 51 bridge over Castor River at Zalma.

Madison County Route 72: Approximately 8.1 miles from the Iron County line to Route D west of Fredericktown.

Mississippi County Route 80: Approximately four miles of resurfacing, shoulder work and bridge rehabilitation from East Prairie to Route 75. A portion of Route 80 in East Prairie will be cold milled prior to resurfacing.