ROAD WORK AHEAD; PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY HIRED TO KEEP RESIDENTS INFORMED, HAPPY ABOUT THREE KEY ROAD PROJECTS

The city of Cape Girardeau wants to put the public in the driver's seat when it comes to construction of upcoming improvements to three heavily traveled streets.

The city will spend more than $30,000 to keep the public informed of progress on projects along Broadway and Bloomfield and Perryville roads and traffic signal improvements.

The City Council hired the Kansas City engineering firm of Black & Veatch to design major improvements to sections of the streets and traffic signal upgrades. Black & Veatch in turn hired the Vandiver Group of St. Louis, a public relations firm, to help keep citizens informed and obtain public input on plans for the transportation work.

The PR firm, which specializes in transportation projects, will be paid more than $30,000.

That expense is part of the estimated $355,000 that will be spent on basic engineering work.

In all, Black and Veatch and its subcontractors will be paid about half a million dollars for engineering, right of way, easement and public relations work.

Almost half of the money spent on the planning work will go to two Cape Girardeau area subcontractors: Koehler Land Surveying and Site Finders, which deals with rights of way and easement work.

The city wants to widen Broadway to four lanes, from Clark to West End Boulevard; widen and straighten Perryville Road, from near Meyer Drive to the north city limits; and widen and reconstruct Bloomfield Road from Kingshighway west to Siemers Drive.

The city also will upgrade traffic signals at 10 intersections in the Sprigg, Broadway and Independence area, and install traffic lights at Broadway and Clark.

The road work and signal improvements are designed to improve traffic flow. The Broadway project also includes drainage work designed to eliminate flash flooding.

Design, right of way acquisition and construction are expected to cost about $3.25 million. That doesn't include the traffic signal improvements, which could cost several hundred thousand dollars, city officials said.

The projects are among 20 that will be funded over the next five years with money from a transportation sales tax. Voters approved the tax last August.

Doug Leslie, public works director, said the three road projects rank high on the transportation tax priority list.

"We wanted to try to get these under way during the first year or two of the program," Leslie said.

Construction could begin this fall on the projects involving Perryville and Bloomfield roads and in early 1997 on the Broadway improvements. All of the work could be completed by the fall of 1997.

The first phase of Broadway widening will extend from Clark to Perry. The section from Perry to West End wasn't included in the transportation tax priorities. The engineering work will be done in conjunction with the first phase, but construction would depend on available funding.

Those involved with the projects say it is important to keep the public informed about the road work.

"These being the first three major projects, they will set pretty much a pattern for our future projects," Leslie said.

A public meeting will be held on each of the three street projects before any final design work is done. The tentative schedule calls for the first meeting to be held in April and the last one in August.

The traffic signal upgrade will be discussed as part of the Broadway meeting since some of those improvements will be done in conjunction with the street widening work.

The information also will come through newsletters, including at least one that would be distributed citywide.

Leslie said some newsletters may be targeted to residents in the affected areas.

The plan to keep the public informed was a key factor in the city's decision to hire Black & Veatch over two other firms, he said.

The city currently is without a part-time public awareness coordinator, but plans to fill that position.

Leslie said the public relations firm will work closely with the new coordinator.

Steve Phillips, project manager for Black & Veatch, said that public relations often has a negative connotation.

But he said the goal in this case is to inform the public and get citizen input.

"We are not trying to sell anybody anything," he stressed.

Donna Vandiver, president of the public relations firm said: "If you don't involve the public, you run the risk of someone not being informed about the project or, in fact, trying to stop the project or slow it down because they weren't adequately informed."

Vandiver said, "There are numerous projects in this state and other states that have been stopped because they didn't take time to fully inform the public."

Phillips said it is important to know how the construction will impact residents and businesses along those streets. Access to Southeast Missouri Hospital is an issue on the Broadway project.

Knowing that a business, for example, receives important deliveries at a certain time each day would be important in trying to schedule construction so it won't be too disruptive, Phillips said.

He said it is important to know the specific needs of residents along those streets. "If I have a health problem, how is the ambulance going to get to my house?"

Phillips said every effort will be made to keep traffic moving on Broadway, and Perryville and Bloomfield roads.

"I don't know if we will be able to keep them open all the time, but we will maintain as much access through there as we can," he said.