Crosswalk comments continue at SEMPO meeting

One message was expressed during public comments at this month’s Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization Board of Directors meeting — the need for a crosswalk on U.S. 61/Kingshighway.

A pedestrian recently suffered life-threatening injuries while attempting to cross the state highway, which is maintained by the Missouri Department of Transportation. In the wake of the crash, citizens at Monday’s Cape Girardeau City Council meeting expressed their desires for the city to provide pedestrians with safer means to cross the state highway’s intersection with North Cape Rock Drive.

The Rev. Renita Green, pastor of St. James AME Church and founder of The People’s Shelter, reiterated those opinions before MoDOT representatives at Wednesday afternoon’s SEMPO meeting.

Standing before the board of directors, Green acknowledged the victim had a history of making unsafe street crossings, but said the issue of providing pedestrian safety is larger than this one incident and asked the board to make the problem a priority.

The intersection’s current design features neither sidewalks nor crosswalks for pedestrians.

“I know that there are a lot of important projects, and a lot of things that are urgent, and a lot of things that have budget priority,” Green said. “But we’re asking you to really look at this crossing.”

The Rev. Renita Green, pastor of St. James AME Church and founder of The People's Shelter, speaks during the public comment period at a SEMPO Board of Directors meeting Wednesday at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

During the SEMPO member report from MoDOT, area engineer Brian Okenfuss thanked Green for expressing her concerns at the meeting and shared background information about the intersection.

The City of Cape Girardeau submitted grant applications in 2014 and 2016 to fund the construction of sidewalks along North Cape Rock Drive north from U.S. 61/Kingshighway to Perryville Road, according to Okenfuss, but both failed to receive funding.

An online survey of 206 people showed two-thirds of respondents classified the need to improve walking conditions as “very important” with 33% describing the region’s walking conditions as “poor” and only 3% describing them as “excellent,” according to SEMPO’s Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.

The plan was adopted April 18, 2018, and Okenfuss said it listed the need for sidewalks in the area as a No. 2 priority.

Green said the lack of sidewalks does not provide safe pedestrian access for the increase in foot traffic, citing the recent relocation of the city court and police station to north of Arena Park, and said short-term solutions should also be considered.

The pastor admitted she was unequipped to engineer a solution on her own, and concluded her comments by placing her faith in the SEMPO team of transportation experts.

“They don’t teach us that in seminary,” Green said. “I don’t know about roads and crossings, but you guys know — you’re brilliant. You have the experience and expertise here to figure that out.”

After the meeting, Okenfuss said the department will take Green’s comments into consideration to help set priorities for transportation needs, as it does all other public comments.

“[The project is] something that has been talked about, but hasn’t quite received funding” the MoDOT engineer said during the SEMPO meeting. “Maybe, with Ms. Green’s comments to bring some attention to that, we can kind of work to prioritize what the needs are for sidewalks.”