Circular roadways backed for downtown

Cape Girardeau's downtown merchants and residents don't want to cut corners when it comes to plans for a new entryway into the city's downtown.

About 20 downtown merchants and residents voiced support Thursday night for an engineer's plan for the extension of Fountain Street from Morgan Oak Street to William Street that would include three roundabouts. The informal meeting was held at the Port Cape Girardeau restaurant.

The roundabouts are one of three proposed designs by Smith & Co., a Poplar Bluff, Mo., engineering firm hired by the city to plan the extension. The favored design includes roundabouts at intersections of Morgan Oak, Good Hope and William streets.

The other design options are a boulevard with conventional intersections rather than roundabouts or a 40-foot-wide commercial street with no median.

City planner Kent Bratton has estimated the project could cost anywhere from $800,000 to $1.4 million. Construction is at least a couple of years away, city officials say.

Downtown residents and merchants favor a design that proposes a boulevard built of brick-like paving stones with a grassy median, decorative street lights and sidewalks on both sides. They also would like to have dedicated space for bicyclists.

Bratton said Thursday night that the city would consider the wishes of the downtown leaders in deciding on a proposed design. The Planning and Zoning Commission could take a second look at the issue at its meeting next week, Bratton said.

Ultimately the city plans to include the project in a package of road improvements that would be funded with money that would come from extending the city's transportation sales tax another five years. Voters could be asked to approve such a tax issue in August 2005, Bratton said.

The city is looking to extend the new Fountain Street, which currently runs from the new Highway 74 bridge route to Morgan Oak. It has a grassy median, decorative lighting and brick-like paving stones, amenities that the engineers are looking to repeat in extending the street.

"Personally, I like the look of roundabouts," said Bill Dunn of the Downtown Merchants Association. Dunn helped set up the meeting in the restaurant's upstairs Yacht Club room.

Paul Ridlen, an engineering manager with Smith & Co., told the group that roundabouts are a better way to handle traffic flow than traditional four-way intersections. "They move traffic through and keep the speeds down," he said. "They are safer."

Said Ridlen, "I don't want anybody to be scared off by roundabouts."

Ridlen said roundabouts have received "a bit of bad press" in Cape Girardeau. The city's first and only roundabout -- located at Gordonville and Silver Springs roads -- sparked controversy when it opened in 2001. Criticism came from unhappy motorists and several councilmen at the time who said the roadway was too narrow. The city eventually widened the roundabout.

Ridlen said the proposed roundabouts, with 130-foot diameters, would be larger than the Gordonville Road roundabout. Trucks with 47-foot long trailers would be able to travel through a roundabout without getting stuck, he said.

The Fountain Street extension would have two 20-foot driving lanes, which would provide plenty of space for bicycle paths, he said.

Catherine Dunlap, executive director of the Old Town Cape redevelopment group, said roundabouts could provide a "more friendly" way to lead visitors and shoppers to downtown.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123