On this episode of 'Going Public', we spoke with Jake Gerard, City Engineer with the City of Cape Girardeau.
He discussed road maintenance projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and gave an update on two major-impact projects along Lexington and Perryville Road. They are part of a slate of projects outlined in TTF-6. Although the intersection of Lexington and Perryville Road is now complete, work continues on both streets. Traffic flow should begin to ease with this major area now open.
Current projects include an 18-month overhaul of Lexington Street, a 12-month repair on Perryville, and a design-in-house project on South Sprigg Street.
TTF-7, approved by voters in April 2025, focuses on maintaining existing roads rather than new construction.
Future projects may include Williams Street, pending budget and project completion. Gerard explained how extreme heat causes concrete to expand and buckle, and the city's methods to mitigate this issue. He also discussed ongoing smaller projects and urged caution in construction zones.
TTF projects are funded on a 'pay-as-you-go' basis so that no money is borrowed to fund the projects. This 0.5 percent sales tax—or half-cent per dollar spent—spreads the cost of improvement projects to everyone who uses the streets, rather than just Cape Girardeau property owners.
Below is a transcript of the conversation.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 00:00
What does your job look like, and what does your department's job entail?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 00:11
So, I'm the city engineer for the City of Cape Girardeau. I am in charge of the engineering division. The engineering division takes care of the public infrastructure for the city. So we deal with the public streets, we deal with the public water mains, the public sewer mains, anything within the right of way. So kind of the area that the public owns in our town.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 00:50
My understanding is that the projects that you all are currently working on in Perryville, Lexington, and Sprigg are funded through the transportation trust fund, approved by voters last April, to continue funding that. Can you tell us a bit more about this trust fund?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 01:05
Our TTF, our transportation trust funds—Every five years, there is a committee that puts together a list of potential projects and allocates how that funding will be used for maintenance, for new projects, for big repair work, or for new streets.
This past TTF, we're on TTF seven, it was decided that all the money, whether it was big projects or our annual maintenance, would go for maintenance. So used to— and originally, [when] the TTF was made, it was for brand new streets.
The last few TTS, the public has really wanted us to focus on maintaining the roads that we have. So that's what the last TTF or two have really looked like— six and seven.
They've been very focused on the streets that we have and making sure they're in good condition. So the Perryville work is part of our annual concrete street repair, and the Lexington work was a big project that was taken to the voters to fix the entirety of Lexington.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 02:23
So how are those projects coming along so far, on Perryville and Lexington, and then also over on Sprigg?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 02:32
They are moving forward. Lexington was an 18-month project, so they have been working on it for quite a while. Most of our citizens and our visitors to town have probably seen it at some point in time over the last year and change.
They started on the east end of town at Big Bend and 177, and they were moving westward. They have gotten all the way to the Lexington Perryville intersection. Now they are they are done with that intersection and everything to the east of it. So everything is open from Perryville to the east, except for the striping. We still need to get that done. So I'd caution motorists to be careful through there.
Still, they will continue west of Perryville all the way to Carolina Street, and then, then we'll be done with that project, the Perryville work. It was part of our 2024 concrete street repair project. So they worked on Cape Rock [Drive] between Kingshighway and Perryville, and then they turned around the corner and have been working on Perryville there. That was about a 12-month project, and it will be wrapping up in the next few months—the work on South Sprigg. That was another TTF project. We designed that one in-house here. Just our engineering division designed that project, and now it's under construction.
They're working from Hackberry up to [Highway] 74 right now. On that one, they are doing some extensive water main work. We have got about half of the water main done, and then you will see the contractor really getting busy over the next couple of weeks, working from Hackberry to Linden with the patching and the sidewalk work that should be following some of the infrastructure that goes in under the ground.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 04:25
And then I know, as far as what I was seeing, on the plans for this year's transportation trust fund, was that if there was sufficient funding, and if there was enough, there might be some work on Williams Street from Sheridan Drive to West End Boulevard. [How] is that looking in the cards there? How are things looking so far on that?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 04:48
So for the TTF that was just passed by the voters—that's a five-year tax. We are just getting underway with that. So we will start with the projects that were that were taken as projects—I believe the William Street was one of our alternative projects, if I'm not mistaken.
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 05:12
So, once we get underway with the three big projects, and we can see how the budget works out on those, see what our prices look like, and get those at least underway, if not completed, that's when we'd be able to see the William Street project, if it's going to come to fruition.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 05:34
I know I'd seen that as an alternative project there, and so I knew, obviously, that was if there was extra around, but changing ideas also somewhat to maintenance there.
About a month ago, there was a video going around of a patch of road near Siemers Drive, pushing up and buckling due to extreme heat. Could you explain how exactly this occurs to our listeners and what your team does to respond to or prevent this?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 06:01
People don't think about it. But concrete actually expands and contracts in the weather. And here in southeast Missouri, we see all kinds of weather.
So in the winters, it gets down to around zero degrees as well into freezing temperatures in the summer, like right now, we can see almost 100 degree days with the heat index well above 100 to combat the thermal expansion that can take place the city, the contractors will cut joints in the roadways, and they have expansion material in there, so that when the concrete expands in the summers, that will it will squeeze on that expansion material, and it has room to go back and forth in the summer, in the winters, when it's colder and the concrete shrinks a bit, it relaxes.
That's what the tar is for. If you go through, you see a nice concrete Street. It's got all the tar joints in between all the slabs that tar helps seal it up for one and two. It gives it some room to some wiggle room, so to speak, to move back and forth if rocks or debris get into those expansion joints—or it's just so hot that it expands more than what that joint can accommodate.
That's when you'll see that buckling, that that like what happened over on Steamers. So we do have a means of trying to combat it with the expansion joints and sealing up those joints really well with the tar. If that does occur, which this is not an uncommon occurrence in our area. That our Public Works Department is very good about getting out there and getting it repaired and getting it back in working order as quickly as they can.
Trey Lintner, KRCU Public Radio 08:03
Alrighty. Is there anything else that people should be aware of while they're driving on the roads around Cape, or any other projects they should be aware of, that are going to be starting up soon?
Jake Girard, Cape Girardeau City Engineer 08:16
We have our big projects of Lexington, Sprigg, Perryville— the really big ones that have the large detours in place. The city also has more residential work going on.
So, they are working on Janet Street, doing concrete patches right next to Alma Schrader [Elementary School]—they will have that one done before school starts.
We have a CIST [Capital Improvement Sales Tax] project—which is a different pot of money— but it also does patching for some of our smaller streets. It is working over in the Greenbrier neighborhood around that area.
We just finished our asphalt maintenance for the year, or wrapping it up, kind of, as we speak. So there are lots of smaller projects that are also going on and smaller repairs, whether it's city personnel or some other smaller contracts that the city tries to do annually to keep our roads in good shape.
I would ask drivers—that we do have a lot of detours right now—there is a lot of construction going on—so please take your time. Please follow the detours when you see them, and if you're in the construction zones, just be very careful while driving. Stay safe. Keep the contractor safe so they can work as quickly as possible, so they can get in and out and get our roads open back up for us.
This interview was transcribed by Otter.ai.
