Lexington Trace- Walk this way

The concrete was barely dry on some sections of Lexington Trace when neighborhood residents started walking on it.

"We don't have to worry about the traffic," said Martha Freeze of Cape Girardeau who, along with her husband, John, regularly takes walks on the new sidewalk that's changing the landscape through Cape Girardeau's north-side neighborhoods.

Construction crews with Lappe Cement Finishing Inc. of Perryville, Mo., continue to extend the pavement as part of a $398,528 project to construct 4.9 miles of sidewalk. Federal transportation money obtained through the Missouri Department of Transportation is paying 80 percent of the cost, with the city picking up the other 20 percent.

The project began last fall. Most of the work should be completed by early July, city officials said, with completion expected by July 16.

City officials initially estimated most of the work would be finished by mid-June. That didn't happen because the contractor had to pull workers off the job to handle other projects, city engineer Josh Richardson said.

Lappe Cement workers spent recent weeks handling improvements on Cape Girardeau's Water Street. The contractor also is working to construct the new intersection at South Kingshighway and Silver Springs Road.

"He is spread kind of thin," said Tom Wiesner, an engineering technician for the city.

City officials refer to the concrete path as Lexington Trace while acknowledging that most residents simply will call it a sidewalk.

But city officials say it's more than that. When finished, it will double as a recreational path that will connect with the heavily used walking and biking trail that runs under Kingshighway near the intersection with Lexington and Mount Auburn Road.

The new pavement will more than double the length of the city's trail system. When completed, pedestrians and bicyclists on the trail could travel all the way from Shawnee Park on the city's south side to Kiwanis Park on the city's north side and on Sprigg Street to Cape Girardeau's downtown.

The new concrete path runs along the north side of Lexington Avenue from Route W to Sprigg Street. It also includes sidewalks on Perryville Road and on North Sprigg Street as well as a short section on Bertling Street next to the Southeast Missouri State University recreation fields. Lexington Trace will be 6 feet wide from Route W to Perryville Road, but the rest of the concrete path will be 4 feet wide, the width of a traditional sidewalk.

The project includes 46 handicapped access ramps and six retaining walls.

As part of the project, construction workers cut back a hillside along Perryville Road, reducing the steep slope hiding the west wide of Kiwanis Park from public view. "I've been wanting to do that for years," city planner Kent Bratton said. "It opens that park up."

Parks and recreation director Dan Muser said the change also will make the hillside easier to mow.

City officials said the earthwork also was necessary just to make room for the sidewalk along Perryville Road north of Cape Rock Drive.

Lexington Trace project also is part of the current city council's commitment to put sidewalks throughout the city.

"We are connecting the dots," Mayor Jay Knudtson said. "We have more to go."

The city now requires developers to install sidewalks when constructing new subdivisions.

More sidewalks encourage more residents to get out and walk, the mayor said. "The neighborhoods are coming alive," the mayor said.

Lexington Trace also is an economic development tool, Knudtson said.

In recent negotiations with a new company exploring whether to locate in Cape Girardeau, a business consultant asked the mayor if Cape Girardeau had sidewalks.

Knudtson said he told the consultant of the city's new commitment to sidewalk construction.

He said the consultant told him that communities that have sidewalks typically have a strong commitment to their neighborhoods and businesses, making them cities where companies want to locate.

Martha and John Freeze are glad to have a place to walk without having to dodge cars.

"When there was no sidewalk, we would walk one behind the other," she said.

The completed sections of sidewalk have changed that habit. "We can walk side by side and talk to each other," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123