Landmark road losing one curve for safety's sake

It will still be called Snake Hill Road. It'll just have a little less bite.

The Cape Special Road District began the first stages of straightening one kink on the curvy road, located just outside the city limits of Cape Girardeau. The stretch of Cape Rock Drive with the well-deserved reptilian nickname begins winding back and forth from about the point where Cape Rock Drive meets the city limits, and keeps winding until it intersects Old Sprigg Street.

The district began chopping down trees last week to make room for a straighter path.

Ralph Phillips, district engineer, said he has heard opposition to the project with people sharing a viewpoint that the road is a landmark and that it should not be touched.

A longtime resident of the area himself, Phillips said he appreciates the history of the landmark, which dates back to the 1930s when the road was built, but he said it's a safety matter that needs to be addressed. Besides, he said, only one curve will become straight -- the first big curve at the bottom of the hill, the first from Old Sprigg Street.

"It'll still be Snake Hill Road," he said.

Many wrecks

The road has been the site of many accidents, Phillips said, especially during wet and slick weather and particularly this winter when roads were covered with ice or snow on an almost-weekly basis.

Although the district workers have already begun clearing out the wooded area where the new path will go, Phillips said crews won't start moving dirt until the fall. The completion of the project is slated for the middle of 2004.

A huge ravine will have to be filled before a road can be put down, Phillips said. The ravine is the reason this portion of the road was made so curvy in the first place, he said.

All the work will be done by district crews, he said; and the district will also use its own materials to fill in the ravine to save cost. The only out-of-pocket costs for the project will be the paving materials, and Phillips said he didn't have cost estimates for that yet.

Some who drive the road regularly can see both sides of the landmark-versus-safety issue.

"The wintertime is the worst part, but there is a problem when it rains too," said Greg Ludwig, a mail carrier.

Ludwig said he's never slid off the road, but has seen plenty of cars that have. "When it snows, they put cinders on it, but don't do much else to it and you're not getting up that thing unless you've got a four-wheel drive. As far as it being a landmark, I agree with that. Safety-wise, I see that too."

Wanda Seyer, who lives about a quarter-mile past the bottom of Snake Hill Road, shared similar thoughts.

"It is a landmark," she said. "I've lived out here for 30 years and have become accustomed to it. But it is pretty dangerous, even when it just rains. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to straighten it out."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635