City leaders hope to avoid past mistakes on Broadway project

Almost seven years ago, as road crews spent more than a year widening upper Broadway from Clark Avenue to Houck Place, Cape Girardeau officials got an earful from incensed business owners who insisted that the long construction period was driving customers away.

A few even closed their doors for good, including restaurants Hardee's and Cafe Azu, whose owners pointed fingers at the $3.1 million project that eliminated drive-by traffic and inhibited access.

With another Broadway corridor project expected to begin next month on lower Broadway, economic development leaders and Cape Girardeau officials don't want to make the same mistake again.

A group is being formed that will ensure that business owners are kept up-to-date as the roughly seven-month $3.85 million construction project proceeds that will widen Broadway from Pacific to Water streets. The call for bids begins today, with the first of two newspaper advertisements to run until the bidding process ends at 10 a.m. March 28.

"We know that there were some businesses that struggled during that process back then," said John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. "Yes, we learned from upper Broadway. Is it our responsibility? I don't know. All I know is we need to be part of an answer."

The answer, according to Mehner and other organizations to be a part of the group, is to make sure business owners know exactly when construction is going to be going on in front of the Broadway businesses and to help them plan for disruptions. City officials also say they hope to do the project in sections in an effort to keep traffic stoppages to as narrow a window as possible.

The group, which meets next week for the first time, plans to build a website so businesses can be kept abreast of information. It also has recruited the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University to offer free counseling to business owners to help them plan ahead.

In 2005 and 2006, as upper Broadway was widened, after the chamber started hearing from business owners, the organization attempted to get the word out that the businesses were still open.

"It was probably too little too late, and not crafted well enough to have an impact," Mehner said. "What I learned about that, if that happened again, we needed to make sure we are part of a process that relays a message to people that these businesses are open or not. Maybe some will decide to close for a month if they're capable of doing that."

Other groups that will be involved in the process include Old Town Cape, the city of Cape Girardeau and the chamber's media partners, which include KFVS12, River Radio and the Southeast Missourian.

The project looks to create a disruption for thousands of drivers who use the well-traveled Broadway every day. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, the most recent average daily traffic estimates for Broadway come in between 16,000 and 19,000 vehicles per day.

Tim Arbeiter, the chamber's vice president of community development, is an organizer of the group. The group intends to help businesses better prepare and to be as educated about the process as possible. So far, Arbeiter said, everything's in the early planning stages, with more ideas to possibly come out of meetings.

"It is an attempt to do better," Arbeiter said. "We hope to give the message a little bit bigger platform. When they rip up a sidewalk, when will it be back and when will it be walkable? We want to get this information to them as quickly as possible. We know there's going to be a disruption. But when the construction occurs, we want to minimize it."

City engineer Casey Brunke said that a contractor should be hired by the end of the month, with construction still on track to start in April. The goal is still doable, she said, of having the widening project that also creates a pedestrian promenade completed by the time Isle of Capri's new $125 million casino opens in November.

The work consists of milling and overlaying the existing roadway with asphalt, removing both sides of the sidewalk and replacing the north-side sidewalk with a 15-foot-wide pedestrian promenade. The project became controversial earlier this year when several businesses came forward with complaints that the loss of parking spots on the north side would hurt their businesses as well. Ultimately, the city promised to work to find more shareable parking spots and opted to move forward.

Lee Schlitt is the owner of Broadway Prescription Shop, which sits along the project's path. Schlitt was one of the dozens of business owners who received a flier from Arbeiter and Old Town Cape executive director Marla Mills last week encouraging them to seek help from the Small Business and Technology Development Centers.

Schlitt is already planning ahead. He said he's been trying to educate their customers about the project and reminding them that they offer free deliveries.

"It's not ideal," Schlitt said. "But we're trying to be ready."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO