Cape plans to widen south-side street

Three apartment complexes hug Linden Street. The south-side Cape Girardeau street is also home to the county's busy public health center.

Cape Girardeau city officials say the narrow street needs widening and sidewalks. The city plans to award a contract this fall for the street and sidewalk construction, estimated to cost nearly $196,000.

Construction could take three or four months and be completed by spring, officials said.

The city will pay for the project with motor fuel tax money, said Thomas Wiesner, engineering technician with the city engineer's office.

City staff will hold a public meeting today at the health center at 1121 Linden St. to explain the project to neighborhood residents.

The meeting, scheduled from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., will be conducted in an open-house format that will allow residents to readily ask questions and offer comments, officials said.

As part of the project, Linden would be widened from South Sprigg Street to West End Boulevard.

The section of Linden Street from South Sprigg to Benton Street is currently a narrow, 20-foot-wide asphalt pavement.

From Benton Street to West End Boulevard, Linden is 22-foot-wide and paved with concrete.

That section too will be widened, Wiesner said.

As a result, Linden Street will become a 30-foot wide, concrete road from South Sprigg to West End Boulevard.

City officials said the street serves as an east-west corridor across the south part of the city and needs to be widened to better handle the traffic.

The city also plans to install 4-foot-wide sidewalks on each side of Linden Street.

"It is a heavy populated area of town," Wiesner said. Adding sidewalks will make it easier for people in the neighborhood to walk to Shawnee Park, which borders West End Boulevard.

The city plans to paint a crosswalk on West End Boulevard at Linden to safely allow pedestrians to reach the park, he said.

Charlotte Craig, director of the county health department, welcomes the widening project.

She said sidewalks are needed. "There is a lot of foot traffic coming into our place," Craig said. "Almost every single person entering has a child or two."

A man who had lost his job recently walked a mile to the health clinic holding his baby in his arms and pushing his toddler in a stroller, Craig said.

The health department provides vouchers for formula and other supplies for thousands of women and infants annually. In addition, the health clinic at the center serves about 4,000 families a year.

Craig said that adds up to a lot of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on Linden Street.

Widening the street and adding sidewalks will make travel on the south-side street safer and more convenient, she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123