- Cape Rolling Out Bloomfield Road Art Trail (8/21/19)1
- Donors Pledge Almost Two Grand To Replace SEMO's Possibly Sentient ‘Gum Tree' (8/16/18)
- SEMO and The Will To (Become A Consultant) – Part 2 (6/14/18)
- SEMO and The Will To Do (You Really Want To See That Legal Notice?) – Part 1 (6/4/18)
- Judge, Jury... Trashman (6/1/18)
- Diary of Cape Girardeau Road Deconstruction (5/11/18)
- Trying To Save A Tree From City “Improvements” (4/30/18)2
Cape Needs A 21st Century Roundabout
As a young boy, I liked to play in the dirt.
We had a big maple in our front yard with large surface roots that were just perfect obstacles for my Tonka, Matchbox and Hot Wheels collection. I used those toys to move dirt around these roots and while-away hot summer days in the cool of the tree's dense shade.
Years later, the maple is long gone, but the ghost of its stump is still there as are hints of my efforts as a pre-school strip miner.
While I've grown up, my fascination for earth-moving equipment and by association, construction projects, persists to this day. While I don't play in the dirt anymore, I like seeing grown men building things or using full-size Tonkas to move around tons of dirt.
That's why I've altered my route to and from work lately. It lets me watch the construction crews use their big toys to build the Fountain Street extension between Morgan Oak and William Street.
I haven't seen a map of the exact construction plan, but I know that a roundabout is supposed to be installed where Fountain intersects Morgan Oak.
People tend to either love roundabouts or hate them.
In this area, one has existed for as long as I can remember in Jonesboro, Illinois where Broad crosses Main. There's also a giant one in Chaffee. Here in Cape we have a tiny and often criticized roundabout at the intersection of Silver Springs and Gordonville Roads. Perhaps because it is so close to a busy regional hospital, we have a lot of out-of-towners who have difficulties managing that new-fangled traffic management device. However, I think the size is really to blame. It was shoe horned into the site.
And now as construction moves forward on the Fountain Street extension another roundabout will soon grace our town. But the project is still in the "dirt work" stage. It's not too late to put in a roundabout ideal for the 21st century, one that is designed specifically with the Millennial Generation in mind, the generation that both expects and demands the most out of life.
And that includes their roundabouts.
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Who says a roundabout has to be horizontal? |
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