P&Z URGES BOYD: WIDEN WILLIAM ST.

The city Planning and Zoning Commission doesn't want to gamble on traffic congestion in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Instead, it wants William Street east of Sprigg widened to four lanes to help handle additional traffic that will be generated by a riverboat gambling development downtown. Commissioners want the developer, Boyd Gaming Corp., to pay for the improvement.

Commission Chairman Charles Haubold Jr. said Tuesday that commissioners don't want the issue to be overlooked.

Haubold said widening William makes sense because the artery is already four lanes wide west of Sprigg.

"It is the only possible four-lane street that you have," he said. "Before there is any agreement signed, we want that in there."

The riverboat development should be in operation by late 1995.

Haubold said William Street needs to be widened before the gambling boat opens.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said the issue was raised when Boyd representatives met with city staff a week ago today.

City officials also believe turning-lane improvements are needed at the William and Sprigg streets intersection.

It also was suggested that Boyd pay the cost of extending Lorimier Street south from Morgan Oak to connect with the planned Mississippi River bridge route.

"We laid these things on the table," Fischer said.

But at this point city staff have had only preliminary discussions with Boyd Gaming.

Fischer said formal negotiations won't commence until around the first of the year.

P&Z last month voted unanimously to recommend the widening of William from Sprigg to Main Street.

"Since this will be one of the major accesses to the downtown area, the increase in traffic as a result of the riverboat will necessitate being able to get vehicles in and out of the downtown area as quickly and easily as possible," the commissioners said in a letter to the city council.

Fischer said the city's position continues to be that Boyd should pay the cost of any street, water or sewer improvements needed to accommodate the gambling development.

But he said widening William isn't the only possible solution to handling the traffic flow.

A traffic-, sewer- and water-impact study done by an engineering firm concluded last May that widening William wasn't warranted. Widening the street would cause a significant disruption to homes and businesses along the route, the study said.

Horner & Shifrin engineers recommended eliminating on-street parking on William from Main to Lorimier and restriping the road for three lanes of traffic -- two westbound and one eastbound.

Fischer said Indian Park would have to be provided with some off-street parking.