No bikes on Broadway: New signs announce old ordinance

The Broadway Corridor Project spruced up the streetscape of downtown Cape Girardeau in an attempt to bring more locals and tourists closer to the Mississippi River. With more foot and bicycle traffic making its way along the new promenade sidewalks, city officials and business owners noticed a safety hazard -- bicycles.

In July, signs advertising that bicyclists are not allowed to ride on the sidewalk were posted along Broadway. Business owners could breathe a sigh of relief and not have to worry about potential injury of customers. However, some locals find the signs perplexing, saying they did not know there was a city ordinance.

Section 26-347 of the Cape Girardeau Code of Ordinances -- which preceded the Broadway project -- states, "No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within a business district."

Cape Girardeau city engineer Casey Brunke said the city saw issues with bicycles on Broadway because of an increase in foot traffic and because storefronts began setting up tables and chairs on the sidewalk.

The goal of the Broadway project was to make the area more pedestrian friendly -- a place where visitors are able to stop, sit on a bench or walk along the sidewalk with an ice cream cone, Brunke said. Bicyclists who ride too fast pose a hazard to pedestrians.

Pedestrians walk past a sign that prohibits riding bicycles on the sidewalk Saturday on the 400 block of Broadway. (Adam Vogler)

Brunke also said a sidewalk cafe ordinance is in the works that would allow more restaurants to set up seating outside and on sidewalks.

Although the bicycle ordinance has been on the books since before the revitalization of Broadway, some say the Cape Girardeau Police Department has not enforced the law.

Cindy Maher lives near Capaha Park and walks downtown on Broadway about five times a week and rides her bike on Broadway about twice a week. Maher and her husband have lived in their house for 19 years, and always have ridden their bicycles on the sidewalks of Broadway. She noticed the signs sometime in July and was unaware of the city ordinance not allowing bicycles on sidewalks, saying it had never been promoted. She said she thought it was odd the signs were only posted on Broadway and not throughout the rest of downtown or the city.

Brunke said there are no plans to place more signs in the downtown area, but if more improvements were to come to downtown, more signs may be necessary.

Maher said she and her husband attempted to ride their bicycles in the street, and nearly caused a head-on collision as a vehicle tried to pass her.

"There's no safe place to ride on Broadway in that section," she said.

Maher said she hasn't noticed an increase in pedestrian traffic along Broadway, and thinks the best solution would be to have pedestrians share the now-wider promenade with bicyclers.

"It would be safer and just more common sense to share the extended promenade," she said. "It's bigger and safer to have bicyclists share the sidewalk with occasional pedestrians."

A downtown business owner who did not want to be identified said in his 21 years of operation, he has noticed some customers coming in and out of his store come very close to being hit by bicyclists speeding down the Broadway sidewalks.

"Some of them come racing through here," the store owner said. "It's a miracle no one's gotten killed."

The store owner agreed that the police department did not previously enforce the ordinance.

His suggestion for the signs was to have them facing both ways. As of now, the signs are visible only when traveling east toward the river.

"This is a piece of metal coming at you, someone's going to get hurt, you know?" he said of bicyclists on Broadway sidewalks.

Brunke said Broadway's speed limit of 25 mph is slow enough that bicyclists can ride on the street and not be a hindrance to traffic. It is "perfectly legal," she said.

"We just want to try to keep everyone safe," Brunke said. "We just felt like we came up with the best compromise with what we had to work with."

adowning@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

Broadway and North Pacific Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Broadway and North Main Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.