CITY'S FINAL TRANSPORATION TRUST FUND MEETING HELD

In the wake of Thursday's final public meeting on future transportation projects in Cape Girardeau, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission must now review the findings and send recommendations to the City Council.

With the half-cent sales tax that supports the city's Transportation Trust Fund set to expire at the end of the year, the city wants to extend the tax and must decide on a list of projects by May to get the proposal on the August ballot.

Seven residents attended Thursday's meeting at Red Star Baptist Church. Also attending were members of the city staff, including City Manager Michael Miller, along with Councilman Tom Neumeyer and William Green of Vision 2000, which has been sponsoring the meetings around the city.

The Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended $6.275 million in improvements to existing streets and sidewalks along with new sidewalk construction and street light installzxxation and upgrades. These projects would take five years to complete.

Another $11.4 million in eight specific projects have been recommended ranging from improvements to Independence Street to widening Broadway. With almost $3 million in contingency funding, the total price tag of the projects is $20.6 million.

As others have at past input meetings, the residents who attended Thursday night's meeting were asked to prioritize their top five projects.