Roundabout proposed for new federal courthouse

Is Cape Girardeau ready for another roundabout?

A contractor drawing up preliminary plans for the new federal courthouse thinks so.

A roundabout may be built just west of Cape Girardeau City Hall as part of the federal courthouse project, city planner Kent Bratton said Monday.

The existing city hall driveway off Independence Street, on the west side of city hall, would be torn out and replaced with a new, probably wider drive and a roundabout that would serve both City Hall and the new $49.3 million courthouse, Bratton said.

The roundabout is part of preliminary design being considered by the General Services Administration, which builds and maintains federal buildings. The cost of the roundabout would be included in the overall cost of the project, city officials said.

It would be Cape Girardeau's second roundabout. Unlike the first, which was done at city expense, this roundabout would be built by the federal government. City officials can make recommendations, but they don't have the final say. That's up to the GSA.

Cape Girardeau's first roundabout opened in 2001 at Gordonville and Silver Springs Road with the city engineering staff saying it would improve traffic flow.

But the circular pavement sparked criticism from drivers who complained that the roundabout was too narrow. The city widened the pavement to better handle traffic.

Bratton has reviewed the preliminary plan for the courthouse project. According to the plan, the new drive would flow into a roundabout that would connect two driving lanes -- one that would allow motorists to drop off passengers in front of the courthouse and the other that would connect to the city hall parking lot.

Unlike the city's first roundabout, the new roundabout wouldn't be in the middle of two city streets.

Construction of the roundabout could temporarily close the drive to City Hall, he said.

City Hall is served by another drive off Independence, just east of the building. But Bratton said most of the traffic enters and exits via the west drive. The east drive is at the top of a hill on Independence, which creates line-of-sight problems for turning motorists, he said.

The 154,000-square-foot courthouse will be built on a 3.9-acre site at Independence and Frederick. An entrance off Frederick Street will lead to parking for the public and courthouse employees, Bratton said.

The GSA has talked of having an "open plaza" between the new courthouse and city hall in the future, although no plans are in place, Bratton said.

The new courthouse will face east toward City Hall, which explains the location of the roundabout, Bratton said.

Most of the parking would be to the south of the new courthouse, said Bratton, who reviewed the project with a GSA staff member last week.

The new courthouse will have a brick exterior and about 130 parking spaces. "This is one of the few federal buildings that it appears to me is going to have adequate parking," he said.

GSA officials caution that the roundabout and other details of the project haven't been finalized.

"We have not approved this plan," said Buster Rosser, deputy regional administrator for the GSA in Kansas City. He said preliminary plans could be in place by the end of May.

Bratton said final design work likely won't be completed until this fall.

The GSA last month hired a design-build contractor, PCL Construction Services of Denver. The contractor is working on completing the preliminary design and then will proceed with final design work. The contractor, who also will build the courthouse, is working on the plans in conjunction with a Denver architectural firm.

The courthouse is expected to be completed by 2005 or early 2006, officials have said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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