CAPE GIRARDEAU MAKES DECADE OF IMPROVEMENTS

Cape Girardeau drivers have learned to dodge orange construction cones with great skill during the past decade while crews worked to make major improvements to the city's infrastructure, sewer lines and roads.

The work often has meant creating detours and traffic delays, but city officials say the delays have been worth it.

If Cape Girardeau can continue to support major improvement projects, it will see development, said the chairman of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, Charlie Haubold.

"The city will be so far ahead of others our size that we will be in good shape," Haubold said. "It's been a blessing and a lot of fun to see these big improvements."

Projects like the Transportation Trust Fund wouldn't have been possible without voter support, he said.

"Since the tax passed we've watched a lot of things start and get done that we didn't think we'd get done for a long time, if ever," Haubold said.

Infrastructure and road improvements have been a central key to the city's growth and development in the past few years.

Infrastructure

Residents approved a $25 million bond issue in 1994 to allow the city to separate its sanitary sewer and water lines. Combination rainwater and sanitary sewer lines were a common practice prior to 1960, but when heavy rains caused the sewers to fill, raw waste bypassed the system and flowed into Cape LaCroix Creek.

In February 2000, voters approved an additional $8.5 million to pay for the final portion of the work, which included replacing the lift stations and force mains that force the water uphill so it can be treated properly, replacing a trunk sewer line and constructing sewer lines in the southern portion of the city that never had a sanitary sewer system.

Another infrastructure improvement was at the city's water treatment plant. Water use steadily rose from 1985 to the early 1990s, at an average 5 million gallons a day, but the city could only produce up to 7.3 million gallons a day.

City voters approved a $43.1 million bond to improve the city's water system in 1994, allowing better treatments and more use, which comes with growth. The city has switched its water intake from the Mississippi River to alluvial wells, replacing water mains and extending the system to developing parts of the city.

Road improvements

Since 1995, the city has focused on improving city streets through the Transportation Trust Fund. An extension of the sales tax that funds the program was approved in 2000.

Voters first approved a half-cent sales tax for the Transportation Trust Fund as a five-year program to pay for necessary road construction.

Twenty projects were listed on the program everything from paving gravel streets to widening and extending major streets. Vision 2000 led public meetings so residents could offer input on what roads needed work.

The list was long, but members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council culled it to the final 20. The extended list includes only 13 projects.

The city put a priority on the original list, hoping to complete the projects in order of need. However, that proved difficult because the money to pay for the projects hadn't been completely collected by the time the project was ready for construction.

The city created a pay-as-you-go plan for the Transportation Trust Fund, which meant projects with bigger price tags fell to the end of the five-year time frame when more tax money was collected.

If the city had to always wait for one project to be finished before starting another, it would have drawn out the work even more, said Mayor Al Spradling III.

Extending the work

When it came time to consider extending the Transportation Trust Fund sales tax, the Planning and Zoning Commission and Vision 2000 again held public meetings to hear from residents.

Few people attended the meetings, but a list of possible projects still emerged. Only 13 projects were suggested for the tax extension, some of them were projects suggested from the 1995 meetings.

The list includes a contingency fund for any unforeseen costs that emerge. With rising asphalt and fuel costs, and increases in bid prices are bound to rise, said Haubold.

The projects in the Transportation Trust Fund program are all part of the city's Major Street Plan, which maps out which streets are heavily traveled and how those connect to other streets in the city.

Transportation Trust Fund extension work The tax collection for these projects began Jan. 1, 2001 and expires Dec. 31, 2005.

General projects:

* Paving streets.

* Repairing streets, curbs and gutters.

* Repairing existing sidewalks.

* New sidewalk construction.

* Installing street lights.

Specific projects:

* Widening Independence from Kingshighway to Pacific Street.

* General improvements to Independence from Sprigg to Waters streets.

* Widening Siemers Drive from William Street to Bloomfield Road, including adding traffic signals.

* New construction of Silver Springs Road from Southern Expressway to Kingshighway.

* New construction of Silver Springs Road from Shawnee Parkway to Southern Expressway.

* New construction of Bloomfield Road from Siemers Drive to Stonebridge Drive, including a new bridge at Ramsey Creek.

* Widening and improving Broadway from Perry Avenue to Houck Place.

* Widening Mount Auburn Road from William Street to Bloomfield Road.