Tax committee split over future of Veterans Memorial Drive; team mulls TTF 6 projects

Advisory committee members developing a list of projects that could be funded with Cape Girardeau’s transportation sales tax are not in agreement on whether to extend Veterans Memorial Drive, a north-south route bordering Interstate 55.

The city committee, chaired by former Mayor Harry Rediger, began meeting last month to prepare a list of projects to be considered by the city council for the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) 6 tax initiative.

Voters will be asked in April to extend the sales tax.

Rediger said city staff has looked at extending Veterans Memorial Drive from Hopper Road, where it currently dead ends, to Farrar Drive, providing a connection to Route K.

City staff previously talked to Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) officials about sharing the cost with the state agency on the project, according to Kelly Green, the city’s engineer.

But MoDOT officials indicated the project would not qualify for such funding, because it is not part of the state road system, Green told the committee, according to minutes of the June 17 meeting.

Committee member and former councilman John Voss said he opposes spending TTF 6 money on a Veterans Memorial Drive extension project.

“We need to repair what we have,” he told the Southeast Missourian. “We have more potholes than money.”

Voss said he doesn’t see “a clear demand” for extending the street at this time.

Several sections of Veterans Memorial Drive have been completed in recent years. A section of the street extends south from LaSalle Avenue. Another section runs from U.S. 61 north to the SportsPlex, and a third section extends from U.S. 61 south to Hopper Road.

Voss said he doesn’t oppose extending the street in the future.

“It’s really not ‘no,’ it is ‘not now,’” he said. “To me, it is just common sense.”

The tax is expected to generate $25 million over five years.

Rediger has proposed spending more than half of the tax dollars — $13.5 million — on street repairs, new sidewalks and streetlights.

He also proposed funding two new street projects: an extension of College Street from South Minnesota Avenue to South West End Boulevard and a reconstruction of Lexington Avenue from West Cape Rock Drive to Big Bend Road.

City staff said the city has some money available to repair Lexington Avenue in spots, but not from curb to curb.

Rediger said extending College Street would provide better access for the new aquatic center proposed to be built next to Jefferson Elementary School.

Andrew Stone of the city’s public works department asked the committee to consider including reconstruction of Bloomfield Street, from South Kingshighway to South West End Boulevard, in the list of projects.

There is a high volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic along this section of the street, according to minutes of the June meeting.

The city’s transportation sales tax was approved by voters in 1995 and has been extended every five years since then.

More than $100 million in transportation tax dollars has been invested in city streets so far, according to Rediger.

Revenue generated by the tax goes to a fund dedicated solely to transportation improvement projects on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.

At the committee’s June meeting, Voss asked whether city officials would be open to making part of the tax permanent to cover ongoing maintenance.

Several committees, including Rediger, opposed the idea.

But Rediger said he would be willing to consider a 10-year tax rather than the five-year sunset that has been a part of all the previous TTF initiatives, according to minutes of the meeting.

Committee members plan to hold two public meetings this fall as part of the planning process.

City officials have asked the committee to submit its list of projects by November.

A final decision on what projects to fund with the tax will be up to the city council.

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