Highway official nixes second park entrance

Citing safety concerns, a state highway official has refused to allow two entrances to Cape Girardeau County Park North.

The county can't retain its existing entrance at the top of a hill on U.S. 61 and build a new one farther west, across from Memorial Park Cemetery, as part of the state's nature center project, said Scott Meyer, Missouri Department of Transportation district engineer in Sikeston, Mo.

Meyer delivered that message in a letter to project engineers. The Cape Girardeau County Commission received a copy of the letter.

Meyer said Monday that allowing two entrances along the busy highway would pose a traffic safety problem.

"Any time you add more points of entrance along a road, it makes it less safe," he said, adding that he would consider approving a new entrance as long as the county agreed to close the existing entrance which winds past the flag-focused war memorial.

"I am willing to shift the entrance and give approval to the shift as long as it meets sight-distance requirements," he said.

Ultimately, any entrance changes would require approval by the state highway commission, Meyer said.

"I think there is a way to make it work that will work for everybody," he said.

The Missouri Department of Conservation plans to build a $7.3 million nature center, beginning early next year. The project is expected to be completed by June 2003.

Besides the 20,000-square-foot nature center itself, the project includes gardens, hiking trails, wetlands, parking, a playground and a new entrance road to the park.

Initial plans retained the old entrance as part of a proposed driving loop that would provide access to the war memorial and the home of Bruce Watkins, county park superintendent.

War memorial issue

Gerald Jones, presiding county commissioner, isn't ready to give up on efforts to keep the existing entrance.

Jones said it is important to provide access to the war memorial and Watkins' house, which sits along the park entrance road, a short distance from the war memorial.

"We have to have a way for Bruce to get to his job," he said.

But Meyer said a new road could be built inside the park, connecting a new entrance to the nature center, the war memorial and Watkins' house.

"We are saying you have to take care of the internal circulation yourself," said Meyer.

But Jones said it makes more sense to keep the existing entrance to reach the memorial area rather than build an entirely new interior road.

Watkins said he won't be able to reach his home unless the existing road remains or a new one is built. Under current plans, the two roads won't be connected.

A.J. Hendershott, outreach and education supervisor for the Missouri Conservation Department in Cape Girar-deau, said the nature center project can work with either one or two entrances.

"The department is going to be pretty flexible," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123