SIDEWALK REBUILDING PROGRAM UNDER WAY

Cape Girardeau's plan to repair sidewalks in its older neighborhoods means that some beautiful old trees will have to come down. The question is how many and at what cost.

The program started this spring at Caruthers Avenue and Broadway and is gradually working its way east and south, said City Engineer Mark Lester. In addition to fixing sidewalks, the city is installing curb cuts at intersections.

The city has allocated $125,000 for the project this fiscal year, Lester said.

Although the program has cost at least one tree that neighbors believe could have been saved, the tree-lined streets of the neighborhood remain largely shady and tree-lined.

In the decades since builders put in houses, sidewalks and trees in the older sections of town, roots from some trees have lifted sidewalk slabs at odd angles making walking treacherous in some places. The uneven sidewalks can be impassible for people using wheelchairs, parents pushing baby strollers and children riding tricycles.

In order to even out the sidewalks, contractors often have to cut out some tree roots. This could weaken the trees, making them vulnerable to winds and prone to fall over. When this happens, the city has the trees removed.

The city has called in urban forester Rocky Hayes of the Missouri Department of Conservation to consult on some trees.

"A lot of it is a judgment call depending on how much of the root system is destroyed," Hayes said. He said trees average about seven big anchor roots. If workers take out three or four, the tree is dangerously weakened.

"I don't like to see our city losing trees," Hayes said. "I like to walk. If you have sidewalks, you like them to be fairly level."

How level the sidewalk must be is also a judgment call. Workers took down a large tree on Bessie Street just east of Sunset Boulevard. Linda Fulton who lives nearby on Sunset, said the sidewalk next to the 100-year-old tree "wasn't in any way hazardous."

The tree's roots had pushed the sidewalk up, so a former owner of the house next to it replaced the slabs and created a gentle slope over the root, Fulton said. Children were able to ride their tricycles over it with little trouble, she said.

At this point, fewer than 10 trees have been taken down citywide. Lester said the city is compiling an estimate of how many trees might eventually be cut down.

The city has taken out two slabs from the sidewalk in front of the home of Rick Steele on Luce Street. City officials are studying whether the tall oak that warped the sidewalk can be saved. Steele said he is willing to accept a little slope or a sidewalk that curves a bit to avoid the roots.

Lester said he fears that if the root warped the sidewalk once, putting a sloping sidewalk over it just means that the root will push the sidewalk higher in the future.

"You're putting a Band-Aid on a problem," Lester said. "What's to say you won't have a bigger problem in five years."

Norma Bonham, city forester in University City and secretary of the Society of Municipal Arborists, says that may happen, but replacing a slab isn't as costly as taking down a tree.

Brian Strickland, an engineer with the city, said the city pays $45 for each slab of sidewalk it replaces, while taking a tree down costs between $500 and $1,000.

Hayes said more than those costs are involved. Trees provide shade, thus reducing air conditioning costs. They also provide oxygen, filter air pollution, provide wildlife habitat and, Hayes said, "They're nice to look at, make the city more attractive, and add to the quality of our lives."

Hayes said that builders may not have realized what they were doing decades ago when they put those neighborhoods in. "If there's three or four feet between the sidewalk and the street, there's not enough room for a big tree," he said.

Lester said the city is exploring the possibility of giving coupons for new trees to homeowners who lose trees to the sidewalk program.