DUST PROBLEM ON WALNUT MAY BE SOLVED

The days of watering the street soon could be over for two businessmen on Walnut Street.

Walnut is a stretch of road about 300 feet long. No one knows who built it or even how it got its name. But however it got there, Walnut is a bumpy road that coughs up dust every day, making cars at Gary's Car and Truck Sales and Motorsports Unlimited dirty and sometimes unattractive to buyers.

Each day Gary Garner, owner of Gary's Car and Truck Sales, waters the street to keep dust to a minimum. But those days may be drawing to an end as Garner and Al Bisher, co-owner of Motorsports Unlimited, have reached an agreement with City Engineer Mark Lester to get the road paved.

The road would be of 6-inch concrete 24-feet wide. Garner and Bisher will pay for the paving.

Before the process of bidding the job can begin, the Cape Girardeau City Council will decide Tuesday if an exception to a city ordinance can be made that requires commercial streets to be 40 feet wide to allow parking on both sides of the road.

In most cases, several businesses share the cost of building roads. But there are only two businesses on either side of Walnut, which means the cost to each business is more than the cost other businesses normally have to pay.

Councilman Melvin Kasten said he and the other councilman have not seen information on the proposal and cannot make a decision until they have it in front of them.

But Lester said he did not think the council would have any problems allowing the road to be 24 feet wide. "The subdivision was there long before we even had these laws," Lester said.

Lester said his main concern is that the road lasts and can be accessible by trucks.

"I told them 'you might as well build it right,'" Lester said. "As soon as you improve it, it is going to be used."

He said concrete will last longer and won't be as expensive for the city to maintain.

Bisher said he and Garner are not opposed to building a concrete street, they just cannot afford to pave a road 40 feet wide. Bisher said he is confident the council will allow an exception for the road.

"I don't think there will be any problems," Bisher said. "My goodness, we are paying for it."