CASINO WOULD ALTER TRAFFIC IN DOWNTOWN AREA

The Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission will recommend to the city council most of the proposals made by Boyd Gaming Corporation to handle increased traffic and the need for additional parking for its casino.

However, there will be stipulations that will require further study of traffic on William Street heading northbound onto Sprigg Street and the need to widen William east of Sprigg Street.

"I think we need to look at both of those areas before we make a final recommendation," said Commissioner Harry Rediger.

Another area of concern is how the demand for more parking will affect businesses in the downtown area once the casino is in place.

There was concern voiced by several members of the commission that once Boyd Gaming begins operating, there will be no consideration for downtown shoppers looking for parking space.

"We want you to know that we are willing to look at the affect the casino is having on parking in the downtown area and react to any study that is made on that," said J. Michael Brady of Boyd Gaming.

One of the proposals from the traffic study, which was made by Horner and Shifrin Inc., is to remove southbound stop signs on Main Street. Stop signs for eastbound and westbound traffic on Themis Street would remain.

"The stop signs would create too much of a bottleneck with the traffic from the casino and regular downtown traffic," said Ron Jagels, representing Horner and Shifrin.

Kent Zickfield, president of the Cape Downtown Merchants Association, said the removal of the stop signs would create a severe safety problem. "You've got a dance studio and a gymnastics academy down there with a lot of children going in and out at peak traffic hours," said Zickfield.

"The Downtown Merchants Association (DMA) is concerned with how fast traffic would be able to move if the stop signs were removed."

Brady suggested that downtown merchants and Boyd Gaming sit down and work out a viable solution.

"I want to be clear in saying that the Downtown Merchants Association is in favor of Boyd Gaming and its project," said Zickfield. "Maybe the solution would be to install synchronized stop lights on Main to handle traffic during peak hours for the casino as well as the downtown businesses."

Jagels said a strictly enforced speed limit would make the area much safer. He also suggested the use of sophisticated synchronized traffic lights to accommodate casino traffic during peak hours of departure.

"In studies such as these, we've found that enforcing speed zones is a critical measure in making the street safe and also the use of push-button signals for pedestrian use," said Jagels.

Another item brought up at the commission meeting was the importance of billboards and other highway signing directing traffic to the appropriate highway exit. There also would need to be local street signs directing traffic along the desired routes.

Boyd Gaming has pledged to pay for the improvements recommended in the traffic study. Among the recommendations are:

-- Construction of a new northbound connector road from William Street to Water Street, to the south and east of the pump station.

-- Converting Water Street, between Independence and Broadway, to two lanes of one-way traffic traveling north.

-- Converting Broadway, between Water Street and Main Street, to three lanes of one-way traffic traveling west.

-- Maintaining Main Street, from Broadway to William Street, for two lanes of one-way traffic traveling south.

-- Moving the historic clock from the intersection of Main Street and Themis to another location.

-- Vacating northbound Main Street, from Merriwether to William to create additional parking.

-- Restriping a section of William Street to create two westbound and one eastbound lanes between Main and Lorimier Street.

-- Redirecting traffic from Spanish Street onto Lorimier Street for access between Morgan Oak and William.

-- Remove the southbound stop sign at Morgan Oak and Spanish Street and construct all new traffic signals at the intersection of Morgan Oak and Lorimier.

-- Widen the east side of Main Street approximately six feet between Broadway and Bellevue to provide a separate right-turn lane into the casino parking garage.