HOMEOWNER, CITY HAGGLE OVER INTERSECTION

If the city of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University have their way, the road to progress will go through a corner of Dr. L. Taylor Bahn's back yard.

That doesn't sit well with Bahn, whose 1000 N. Henderson home is on the north side of the Henderson-New Madrid intersection.

The city and university want to improve the intersection where Henderson, Greek Drive and New Madrid come together, creating a traffic bottleneck. They want to allow free-flowing traffic between Henderson on the south side of the intersection and New Madrid on the east. Currently, New Madrid traffic has to stop at the intersection.

The project also involves realigning Greek Drive slightly as it comes into the intersection.

In addition, the university is constructing a one-way outlet road from the north campus area parking lots to New Madrid. "It will hit New Madrid just east of the pedestrian bridge," said Al Stoverink, Southeast's facilities management director.

Henderson on the south side of the intersection would be moved farther east to improve the flow of traffic turning east onto New Madrid.

Bahn agrees some improvements are needed. But he said the intersection could be improved without taking any of his yard bordering New Madrid.

Bahn said earlier plans didn't encroach on his property. He said he only saw the latest plan two weeks ago.

Bahn's opposition to the current improvement plan could force the city to go to court to condemn the land. If that happens, the $322,000 project will be delayed for at least 90 to 120 days, city officials said.

That would be bad news for the university, which wants to get the main intersection improvements constructed and completed by late August in time for the opening of the nearby College of Business building.

"We are certainly concerned about that," said Stoverink.

The university provided most of the land needed for the intersection improvements. But the city has to acquire two small tracts, including the Bahn property, before construction can begin.

Bahn said he hopes an agreement can be reached without going to court. He suggested New Madrid could be realigned slightly to the east on university land. "It would be no trouble just to move it a little," said Bahn.

Bahn's property actually extends out into what is now part of the pavement.

Bahn would get some land back at the intersection in return for the right of way, including a piece of ground that he already maintains.

The city and university also plan to construct a small traffic island to help set off a semi-circular lane of private parking for the Bahn home.

Signs currently announce that the area is reserved for private parking. But Bahn said students ignore the signs and park there anyway.

Despite Bahn's opposition, the City Council voted 5-2 Monday to approve the final design drawn up by an engineering firm hired by the university. It calls for taking about 1,400 square feet on the southeast corner of Bahn's back yard to straighten out New Madrid at the intersection.

Councilmen Melvin Kasten and Richard Eggimann voted against it after an unsuccessful attempt to table the issue.

Kasten, who lives in the North Henderson area, said the proposed design will result in cars on New Madrid speeding through the intersection.

Motorists on Henderson north of the intersection who want to go east on New Madrid would have to make two left turns in front of traffic that isn't stopping, Bahn said.

Kasten said, "I think they are making it much worse."

Both Kasten and Eggimann said the final design should have been sent to the Planning and Zoning Commission before it came to the council.

But Councilman Melvin Gateley said the city could still make the intersection a four-way stop at a later date, if warranted.

Ken Eftink, the city's development services coordinator, said traffic studies show that most of the motorists who travel through the intersection are going around the edge of the campus via the New Madrid-Henderson route.

The traffic count is 5,320 cars a day on the south side of the intersection on Henderson. Another 4,540 cars daily travel on New Madrid east of the intersection, but only 810 cars a day travel on Henderson north of the intersection.