Cape city seeks to ease traffic congestion on Independence Street

Cape Girardeau city officials want to ease traffic congestion on a nearly mile-long section of Independence Street, but first they have to come up with a plan.

The city has hired Lochmueller Group of St. Louis at a cost of nearly $110,000 to do a traffic study and come up with recommendations on how to address the problem.

On Wednesday, an open house was held at City Hall to solicit public comment on the traffic problems on Independence, from East Rodney Drive to Sunset Boulevard. Less than a dozen people showed up.

City engineer Casey Brunke said letters were sent to property and business owners along Independence Street notifying them of the meeting.

Brunke said the city wants public input in addressing the traffic issue.

Cheryl Sharp, project manager for Lochmueller, said the firm will look at various options. Another public meeting will be held later this year to outline those options, she said.

After reviewing options, a "preferred option" will be presented to city staff, Sharp said.

The city has estimated the transportation trust fund project could cost about $3.4 million, which includes both planning and construction costs. Brunke said construction could start in 2020.

The project was approved by voters when they extended the transportation sales tax in 2015, she said.

Voters agreed to spend tax dollars on a traffic study and implementing the recommendations that come out of the study, she said.

Brunke and Sharp said any number of improvements could be considered from adding lanes and traffic signals to constructing roundabouts. Another option could include changing some of the locations of business entrances to smooth traffic flow, Brunke said.

Sharp said it is unlikely the street would be widened to four or five lanes.

Brunke said there is limited right of way along that section of Independence Street. Any significant widening work would require the city to purchase additional right of way, she said.

Sharp said her firm started work on the traffic study in March. "It is definitely congested," she said of traffic on the street.

According to the study, there were 96 traffic accidents along that stretch of Independence Street in 2015, 103 in 2016 and 78 in 2017. Only 49 of those accidents involved injuries, the study found.

More than half of the accidents involved rear-end collisions, the study found.

Surprisingly, we have not had any deaths," Brunke said.

Sharp and city engineering staff said much of the congestion is associated with customers entering and exiting businesses, including the Aldi grocery store and Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Traffic backs up into the Kingshighway intersection at times as motorists attempt to turn left to go east on Independence Street.

Tim Richmond of the city's engineering department said the busy street experiences "a lot of traffic backup."

The traffic study found the highest volume of traffic -- 17,543 vehicles a day -- occurs over the short distance from the Kingshighway intersection eastward to Arby's restaurant.

More than 14,000 vehicles a day travel through the Caruthers Street intersection.

Some 15,000 to 17,000 vehicles travel over the section of Independence Street just west of Kingshighway, according to the study.

Sharp said the Independence Street intersections with Clark Street and South Plaza Way are only a short distance apart, adding to the traffic congestion.

Several Cape Girardeau residents, who attended Wednesday's session, said one of the most congested areas is at an entrance to the Aldi store, which is very close to the Kingshighway intersection.

Chris Rellegert said traffic regularly backs up at that location. Aldi has two entrances on Independence Street. Rellegert suggested removing the entrance nearest the Kingshighway intersection to help alleviate some of the congestion.

Melanie Beard, who lives in the 1700 block of Independence Street, said traffic often backs up at the Sunset intersection near her home.

She also voiced concern about traffic congestion at Clark Street. She suggested a roundabout be considered at that location to improve traffic flow.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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