CITY TO WIDEN WILLIAM FROM SPRIGG TO MAIN

The city of Cape Girardeau plans to widen William Street from Sprigg to Main streets this year to improve traffic flow in and out of the downtown area, city officials said Wednesday.

The city intends to widen the street, one of Cape Girardeau's oldest roads and main arteries, from 32 feet to 40 feet. The project steers clear of the south side of William and St. Mary's Cathedral, an east-side landmark. The Catholic church is on the southeast corner of the William and Sprigg intersection.

City officials say the wider road would stay two lanes, at least for now. The project, estimated to cost about $500,000, includes improvements to the Main Street intersection and the east side of the Sprigg Street intersection as well as new sidewalks and storm sewer improvements. The project will be funded with transportation trust fund money.

"Basically, we are setting ourselves up for future traffic flow," said city engineer Mark Lester. But he said it would be difficult to widen the road to four lanes because buildings are too close to the pavement.

"I doubt it will ever be four lanes," he said.

By widening the road, the city can better match up the traffic lanes east of Sprigg with those on the west side of the intersection, Lester said.

How it will work

Because the lanes of William on either side of Sprigg currently don't line up, there is only one lane going west across Sprigg plus one left-turn lane. Under the plan, William on the east side of the intersection will be realigned to match the west side and have two lanes to go straight across.

There still will be only one lane going east.

Further east on William, the city plans to extend Main Street's grassy median. That will make it easier for motorists turning north onto Main to get in the correct lane. The intersection, which also connects with Aquamsi Street and a downtown parking lot, confuses motorists, Lester said.

The wider road will better handle traffic while allowing for on-street parking on the north side of William, he said.

The city currently is advertising for construction bids and could award a contract by early June, with construction beginning in late July or early August and completed by year's end, Lester said.

The city plans to keep the street open to traffic as much as possible, he said. "It will be similar to the Broadway project."

Increased traffic expected

City Councilman Tom Neumeyer said he expects more motorists will use that section of William Street once a new federal courthouse is built a few blocks away on Independence Street and a new downtown exit is constructed to connect to the new Mississippi River bridge route.

Southeast Missouri State University's plan to develop a former Catholic seminary into a River Campus arts school a few blocks south of William Street also could lead to more traffic, he said.

Neumeyer, 51, said it is time to improve the street. "I grew up here in town. It is exactly the way it was when I was a kid," he said.

Downtown merchants, he said, have long favored widening the street to provide better access to their stores. Seven years ago, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended widening the street to four lanes to handle the added traffic expected from a proposed casino. But the casino venture never got off the ground and the widening project was dropped.

Marjorie Conway and her husband, Robert, live at 616 William, just across the street and in the shadow of St. Mary's Cathedral where they worship. "We just walk across the street. We don't have to worry about parking," she said.

The Conways hope the project will ease traffic congestion. The traffic bottleneck is worse in the mornings when parents drop their children off at the Catholic elementary school and day care next to the church, she said.

Conway said she and her neighbors are glad the old trees next to St. Mary's Cathedral won't be cut down.

A few blocks east, some trees along William bordering Indian Park will be torn down, she said. "That is the only gripe I've heard, " she said.