Cape city seeks to address traffic tie-ups at Arena Park entrance

The Maria Louise Lane and Broadview Street junction regularly leads to traffic tie-ups at the Kingshighway entrance to Arena Park.

Cape Girardeau city staff would like to alleviate the traffic problem, but don’t know what would be the best solution.

City staff initially proposed budgeting $250,000 to $350,000 to improve the traffic flow, but that idea was scrapped after city engineer Kelly Green told a transportation advisory committee recently there were no plans on just what improvements should be made.

The advisory committee, with the help of city staff, is finalizing a list of projects to be funded if Cape Girardeau voters extend the transportation sales tax next year.

Committee members and city staff are now suggesting $50,000 could be spent to hire a consultant to draw up plans for improving the intersection.

But Green said traffic data needs to be collected before any consultant is hired.

City planner Ryan Shrimplin said Tuesday the city could seek an $8,000 grant from the state to collect information on traffic counts and vehicle turning data. The city would have to contribute $2,000 for the study.

The collection of traffic data might reduce the cost of consultant services, Shrimplin said.

Assuming the city applies for and receives the state funding, the city would hope to get the traffic data in late 2019 or early 2020, he said. The city then would hire a consultant to recommend a solution to the traffic problem.

Green told the advisory board last week realigning Broadview farther west, away from the Kingshighway intersection, could be one option.

Any realignment is expected to involve acquisition of nearby property for the roadway, she said.

One possibility could involve realigning Broadview westward to the intersection of Kiwanis and Optimist drives and constructing a roundabout at that location, Green told the advisory board.

Green said that would move the Broadview traffic farther away from the busy Kingshighway intersection. But city staff said there still would be the issue of cross traffic from Maria Louise Lane, which skirts the northern edge of the park.

The city’s new police station is on Maria Louise Lane, not far from the Arena Park entrance.

Traffic congestion at the junction of Broadview, Maria Louise Lane and Kiwanis Drive has long been a traffic headache for the city.

Shrimplin said, “It is somewhat of a cut through” for motorists.

In 1987, the Southeast Missourian reported the city’s comprehensive plan recognized a traffic problem in the use of Arena Park as a thoroughfare.

The plan, drawn up by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission, suggested the city investigate traffic control alternatives, including realignment of both Maria Louise Lane and Broadview. The streets, however, were not realigned.

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