HEAVY TRAFFIC: CAPE SPECIAL ROAD DISTRICT FACES NEW CHALLENGES

With much of its 105 miles of roads in growth areas surrounding Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Cape Special Road District sees continuous increased traffic on its roads.

"Traffic has really increased in recent years," said Ralph Phillips, the road district engineer for 15 years. "There has been so much building going on, even in the out-county,"

Growth of Cape Girardeau and Jackson also has caused an increase in traffic on Cape Special roads. With more traffic comes increased maintenance.

When the road district was formed in 1912, one of its primary objectives was to build roads. But now new road construction is rare, and most of the $700,000 it gets each years is devoted to improving roads.

"Most of our budget is spent on maintenance, but we do a little asphalting when we can," explained Phillips. "We try to maintain what we have, and if we have funds left, we make improvements or asphalt."

Improvements include widening of roads, improving grades, and cutting off hills.

Almost all of the work in the district is done by its own employees. The district has 12 employees, and 11 work on the roads.

About two-thirds of the roads in the district are paved with asphalt. In addition to the 105 miles of road, Cape Special also has 36 bridges 20-feet long or longer and many other smaller bridges.

Phillips said the district eventually will begin to get more involved in a bridge replacement program.

All funds come from a 23-cent per $100 assessed valuation property tax levy. State law allows the county to keep 20 percent of the funds from the special road district levy to use on county roads, and the balance goes to the road district.

On some projects, costs are shared with the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Cape Special's boundaries are the Scott-Cape county line on the south; the west boundary is along Highway 25 to just outside of Jackson; and on the north the district runs to just past Egypt Mills.

The cities have taken over many special road district roads that they have annexed, but the road district has kept maintenance responsibilities on parts of some roads. Cape Special also handles snow removal on parts of roads in Cape Girardeau that run out of town into the road district.

Phillips explained that Cape Special maintains a large part of Bloomfield Road, Hopper Road, and Kage Road, including some parts that are in Cape Girardeau. The district takes care of Perryville Road from just past the Lexington intersection, part of North Sprigg Street, and Cape Rock Drive from between its intersection with Lexington to near the city water plant.

The road district helped fund improvements to parts of Perryville Road, Cape Rock Drive, and Mount Auburn Road. Once those projects were completed the city took over maintenance.

All work in the road district, budgets and planning are overseen by three elected commissioners who meet monthly. Serving as commissioners are Andy Juden Jr., chairman; and Jerry Lorberg and Dr. John Holcomb.

Many of the special road districts in Missouri have been dissolved over the years, including Byrd district around Jackson. It was merged several years ago with the county road system.

Phillips said he believes there is a bright future for Cape Special Road District. Even with city annexations, the district has not lost many miles of roads, he said.

"I don't see anything different happening," said Phillips. "The demand is there to maintain the roads. As long as we can do a good job of it, we will continue to exist. Our main goal is to do as much as we can with what we have."