City offers first look at path of new street

Property owners living near the future Lewis and Clark Parkway got their first look at the road's suggested route Thursday.

They seemed to like it.

"Does anybody here have a reason that they would not want the road here?" asked engineer Chris Koehler, president of Koehler Engineering and Land Surveying. He made it clear the route was a general idea, intended to draw comments from residents.

A single enlarged satellite image of the area showed just the first phase of the three-phase road, which will link the proposed LaSalle Avenue to Kingshighway. Phase I starts at LaSalle Avenue and ends at Bainbridge Road.

"It's a good deal," said Donald Mayfield, who lives on a 15-acre parcel just off County Road 618. "It'll take traffic out in front of my house."

When one resident asked why the city didn't merely upgrade existing roads, Koehler explained a new road close to Interstate 55 will draw traffic off the highway. That has multiple benefits, he said.

"It decreases the maintenance costs for the interstate," he said.

Doug Leslie, Cape Girardeau's city manager, said those people who leave the freeway may end up spending money locally.

Ron Steele, a member of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, brought his camera and took a photo of the map.

"I've been trying to get it straight in my own head where all the development is going," he said.

Dan Braswell showed up to check out the Phase I map, though his home, at 117 Ponca Lane, is farther south. He was pleased to learn it is on Phase II property, near County Road 620.

"Right now it doesn't affect me," Braswell said.

The meeting, required by Missouri's Department of Transportation, was designed to answer residents' questions and draw comments.

Those who showed up at the Osage Community Centre were offered a bright red comment sheet that must be returned to the city within two weeks.

Koehler said comments will be considered over the course of the design phase, but he didn't make any promises. He said state and city requirements, as well as safety and engineering guidelines, will take precedence.

The company will have a second public meeting in about 60 days, when the company is "about 35 percent into the predesign phase" and can show more specific ideas for the road.

That wasn't the only road plan debuting Thursday. Earlier in the day, Ken Eftink, Cape Gir?ar?deau's development services director, and Martha Brown, the city's planner, presented the Cape Girardeau County Commission with a map for an outer road from William Street to Center Junction. They were seeking rights of way across the edge of County Park South and the Missouri Veterans Home property.

Cape Girardeau County has a 100-foot-wide easement across the veterans home property, but the city's plan could disrupt traffic at the home and parking for the Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinic.

The city would consider helping the clinic move to a nearby location, Eftink said.

The proposal could also force the county to change the course of a nature trail in the park, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said.

"Anything taken out by the project would have to be replaced," Eftink said.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127