Cape's P&Z commissioners settle on street name change

Cape Girardeau city officials don't want a proposed $3 million street project to start off with a bad name before voters even approve the project.

So it's out with Coker Road and in with LaSalle Avenue for a major east-west street that will provide a new entrance into the city from Interstate 55.

City planner Kent Bratton first suggested Coker Road and then replaced it with LaSalle Avenue after planning and zoning commissioners objected to the original name.

Coker Road was named after a nearby hill.

But commissioners complained about the name. "It wasn't sexy enough," said commissioner Harry Rediger.

For one thing, commissioners didn't want a new east-west thoroughfare to be called a road even though it generally follows the route of County Road 618.

"We thought it needed to be an avenue," Rediger said. Coker Road sounded too rural for a major city street, he said.

Like the original name, LaSalle Avenue is named for a geographic feature along the proposed route. The new street is named after LaSalle Fork, which flows into Cape LaCroix Creek.

Bears name of explorer

The creek branch is named after French explorer Sieur de La Salle, who in the 17th century led the first European expedition to travel down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

La Salle may never have seen the fork of the creek that bears his name. But that makes little difference to Bratton, who says it makes sense to name the proposed street after a creek that flows through the area and ultimately empties into the Mississippi River.

The new two-lane thoroughfare would extend from the planned Interstate 55/East Main Street interchange eastward to Route W.

It's one of nine road projects that would be funded with a half-cent transportation sales tax if Cape Girardeau voters in August extend the tax for another five years.

The important thing, Rediger said, was to settle on a suitable street name now rather than have to change it later.

Rediger thinks LaSalle Avenue sounds just right for the city's future thoroughfare.

Planning commission chairman Skip Smallwood said commissioners didn't formally act on the new street name.

But Bratton said it was clear they weren't in love with Coker Road. "Quite a few people couldn't get their arms around it," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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