More roundabouts may mark city streets

The proposed extension of new Fountain Street from Morgan Oak Street to William Street could include three roundabouts at major intersections rather than conventional four-way stops.

One of three proposed designs by Smith & Co., a Poplar Bluff, Mo., engineering firm hired by the city of Cape Girardeau, envisions roundabouts being built at Fountain Street intersections with Morgan Oak, Good Hope and William.

Paul Ridlen, an engineering manager with Smith & Co., said the proposed Fountain Street extension -- which would follow an abandoned railroad bed -- is "ideally set up" for roundabouts. The land is relatively flat, adding to the feasibility of constructing roundabouts, he told the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night.

The commission took no action on the preliminary design proposals.

Ridlen said the proposal envisions two roundabouts each 130 feet in diameter at Morgan Oak and William streets and a smaller, 90-foot-in-diameter roundabout at Good Hope.

"We figured the bigger, the better," he said.

Commissioner Harry Rediger said he liked the roundabout concept, but commissioner Clifford Crosnoe worried that roundabouts would be difficult for large trucks to navigate.

Another option would be traditional intersections with Fountain Street being a through street to William Street and traffic forced to stop on Morgan Oak and Good Hope streets, Ridlen said.

CVB logo in roadCape Girardeau's new Convention and Visitors Bureau logo could be painted in the middle of the Good Hope and Fountain intersection that would be built, Ridlen said.

The first two options envision a divided street built with brick-like paving stones. There would be a 10-foot wide grassy median separating two, 20-foot traffic lanes, he told the commission.

The third option is to construct a 40-foot wide, two-lane commercial street with no median.

City planner Kent Bratton said the Fountain Street design options will be presented to the city council later this month. He said the project, which could cost an estimated $800,000 to $1.4 million, is at least a couple years away from construction.

In other business, commissioners approved seven record plats and two preliminary plats for subdivision developments. The developments: The Glenn, The Loch and the Highland at Dalhousie, all in the Prestwick Plantation development at 302 Blackford Lane, Marquette Towers Subdivision in the 300 block of Broadway, Whispering Pines in the 1800 block of Big Bend Road, Kinder Lynwood Townhouses No. 3 at 2811 and 2809 Lynwood Hills, Brookshire Estates No. 5 on Brookshire Road, Rhodesian Ridge north of Timon Way and Dumais, and the Villas of West Park in the 3000 block of Bloomfield Road.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123