Cape's pavement plan

Cape Girardeau motorists can count on seeing orange barrels and construction crews on several city streets this year, including on the street some residents say qualifies as the worst in the city.

The city has a dozen road and bridge projects -- in addition to its ongoing asphalt paving program -- on the drawing board for design work and/or construction this year. That includes Commercial Street, an asphalt-and-gravel street pitted with potholes that make traveling on the road a bone-jarring experience.

Property owners along the street, which runs just east of Kingshighway, have complained about the poor condition of the road for years.

Real estate agent Kerry Johnson, who owns the Big River Grandprix go-cart track at 610 Commercial, said the street qualifies as Cape Girardeau's most in need of repair.

"If you look at the street, you think it is an abandoned area," he said.

Kerry said one businessman became so disgusted he relocated his electrical business rather than put up with the bumpy street.

City engineer Mark Lester said the city plans to construct a wider concrete street and improve drainage from where the concrete pavement ends at Walnut Street south to its dead end at Hickory Street. The project will cost an estimated $181,000. The city plans to start construction by this fall and have the project completed by early 2005, Lester said.

Property owners along the street will be tax-billed for the cost, he said, which is routinely done for paving work on streets that serve only businesses. The other projects are being funded by Transportation Trust Fund sales taxes or motor fuel taxes.

"I won't be happy at all," Johnson said of the city's plan for property owners to pay the bill.

Johnson said the street borders about 10 commercial properties including the Cape Skate roller-skating rink at 620 Commercial St. He said he and other property owners want the city to pay the cost.

Widening Independence

That controversy aside, the city has plans for other road improvements.

Work should begin later this month on improving and widening Independence Street from Pacific to Sprigg streets. The nearly $260,000 project includes concrete pavement, storm water and traffic signal upgrades, and new curbs, gutters, water mains and sidewalks. Lappe Cement Finishing Inc. of Perryville, Mo., is the contractor.

Cape Girardeau lawyer Dan Rau, who has an office at the corner of Pacific and Independence, has said the street currently is "like a bowl, and it collects a lot of water."

The work on Independence, one of the city's major east-west streets, is just the beginning of the city's long-range plan to improve Independence from Water Street west to Kingshighway. The project has been on the city's to-do list since 1991.

The city also plans to reconstruct Minnesota Avenue from Bloomfield Road to College Street, adding sidewalks and curbs and gutter and storm drainage. Lester said easements are being acquired on that project now.

The street runs in front of Jefferson Elementary School. Lester said the city hopes to have the street construction work in front of the school completed before classes start this fall.

Two under construction

Two projects -- the Bloomfield Road bridge and the improvement of Silver Springs Road from Highway 74 to Mount Auburn Road -- already are under construction and should be completed later this year, Lester said.

The $535,000 bridge project should be completed this spring, he said.

Paving of a new, wider and realigned Silver Springs Road at a cost of nearly $384,000 should be finished by early summer, Lester said.

The city also plans to begin widening Bloomfield Road, creating a 36-foot-wide concrete street from Siemers Drive to Stonebridge this summer. The project, which will tie into the new Bloomfield Road bridge, includes drainage work and sidewalks.

The contract has yet to be awarded for the project, which could cost more than $1 million.

Construction should start this summer on a new intersection at South Kingshighway and Silver Springs Road. The city and the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to split the estimated $465,000 cost of that project, which includes extending the concrete pavement of Silver Springs Road to connect with busy South Kingshighway.

In addition, the city plans to reconstruct Bertling Street from Sprigg Street to Perryville Road, removing and replacing concrete pavement and improving drainage. That project could cost nearly $184,000.

Engineering underway

While construction isn't expected this year, engineering work is underway to widen a section of Broadway, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Engineering work also is expected to proceed on three other projects: a realignment of Lombardo Drive, Linden Street widening and the extension of Fountain Street from Morgan Oak to William Street.

Southeast Missouri State University has hired an engineering firm to do the planning work for widening Broadway from Perry Avenue to Houck Place. The city plans to reimburse the university for the engineering cost.

The planning work should be completed this year, but construction on the $2 million project won't begin until next year, officials said.

Lester said the city wants to realign Lombardo Drive to better connect with Clark Street so motorists no longer will have to make sharp turns. Construction could cost $85,000.

The city wants to widen Linden Street, including adding a sidewalk. The south-side street will be widened from 24 feet to 30 feet. Improving Linden from Sprigg Street to West End Boulevard -- construction could occur next year at an estimated cost of $206,000 -- should provide improved access to nearby Shawnee Park, city officials said.

Engineering work will be done to identify the proposed route for the extension of Fountain Street from Morgan Oak to William, but construction on the $860,000 project currently isn't scheduled until 2006.

All these road projects will benefit motorists, but Lester said he knows he'll get his share of complaints from city residents during construction.

"They are happy when the projects are done," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123