P&Z lays out 9 new Cape road projects

The city would widen sections of Mount Auburn Road, Bloomfield Road and South Sprigg Street, as well as improve the Kingshighway-Cape Rock Drive intersection and extend Fountain Street as part of a $20.3 million road improvements plan that would take voter approval to fund.

The Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission recommended Wednesday that the city undertake nine road projects in addition to paving existing streets and building and repairing sidewalks if voters in August extend the half-cent transportation sales tax for another five years.

Commissioners approved the plan on a 9-1 vote with commissioner Clifford Crosnoe dissenting. The recommendation will be presented to the city council in January. The council has the final say on putting the tax issue on the ballot and how the money would be spent.

Crosnoe said after the meeting that he opposed the plan because it includes a project to extend Fountain Street two blocks from Morgan Oak Street to William Street. Crosnoe said the extension isn't warranted. In recent months, Crosnoe has objected to a proposal from downtown business leaders to construct a decorative boulevard as an entrance to downtown.

Wednesday night, Crosnoe said there's no need to extend Fountain Street when traffic could be routed over existing Spanish Street.

But the other commissioners agreed to include the Fountain Street extension project. Still, commissioners recommended only $300,000 in city transportation sales tax money be budgeted for the work. That would force city and civic leaders to use grant money or other sources of funding to pay the remaining cost.

The city has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant which -- coupled with transportation sales tax money -- would allow for construction of an $800,000 standard, 40-foot-wide street. But design plans still haven't been finalized, and the cost would be higher if decorative paving stones are used, city officials said.

Whatever the final cost, the commission said it wants to limit city transportation tax spending on the project to $300,000.

Cost cutting

At the meeting, commissioners trimmed some expenses from a working draft of the plan after city planner Kent Bratton presented some new cost estimates for various projects.

Commissioners reduced the amount of money available for sidewalk construction and repair by $250,000, lowering it from $1 million to $750,000. The commission also recommended cutting $300,000 out of the contingency funding to bring estimated expenses in line with anticipated revenue.

The plan envisions spending $20.3 million in road improvements, including $2.79 million for contingencies should project costs escalate.

Included in the proposal is an estimated $5.6 million to pave existing streets, repair streets and sidewalks and build new sidewalks. Another $11.9 million would be budgeted for nine specific road projects.

Commissioners said they haven't prioritized the nine street projects, even though the Fountain Street project was shown last on the list. "I think they are all equal priorities," said commission chairman Skip Smallwood.

Harry Rediger, who chaired a planning committee that drew up the plan, said the city has made substantial improvements since voters approved the first five-year sales tax plan in August 1995.

"It is very critical we continue this sales tax," Rediger said prior to the commission meeting. He said the proposed road improvements are essential to continued economic growth.

The city, he said, has kept its promises to voters in the other two transportation plans. Some of the projects in the second five-year plan still await construction, but Rediger said they will be done as promised.

The city has spent nearly $30 million on road improvements over the past nine years. The current five-year tax, approved by voters in August 2000, is set to expire at the end of next year.

City officials have proposed an Aug. 2 vote to extend the tax another five years.

Rediger said the proposed road projects include a new street west of Siemers Drive to relieve traffic congestion in the nearby busy shopping area and construction of a two-lane road from Interstate 55 to Route W that would tie in with the new East Main Street interchange the Missouri Department of Transportation plans to build.

The latter, known as the Coker Road project, is expected to be the most expensive of the nine proposed street projects. Rediger said the work could cost over $3 million.

He suggested the city staff needs to come up with new names for Coker Road and for the new street being proposed west of Siemers Drive.

City officials said final cost estimates on the various projects would be shown when the transportation plan is submitted to the city council in January.

In addition to the nine projects the commission wants funded, the plan includes three alternate projects -- widening New Madrid Street from Perry Avenue to Clark Street, and improving two sections of West End Boulevard. The alternate projects would be undertaken only if funding were available, Rediger said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123