TEN YEARS LATER, BROADWAY SWITCH STIRS DISAGREEMENT

On its east end, Broadway Street is as old as Cape Girardeau. Today it remains one of the city's primary east-west arteries, connecting Kingshighway with the downtown business district.

Initially known as Harmony Street, Broadway was the focus of a bitter controversy that culminated 10 years ago this month when a split city council voted to scrap a seven-year experiment with one-way traffic and revert to a two-way Broadway.

And although the dispute has subsided, the underlying issues that sparked the debate remain.

"The same thing concerns me now that did back then," said former city councilman Curt Smith, who favored keeping one-way eastbound traffic on part of Broadway. "It's hard to drive and park up and down Broadway when it's two way.

"I stay off of Broadway only because I don't want to have to stop two or three times on the way up or down to allow somebody to parallel park," he added.

In 1976, the city council decided to make Broadway a one-way, eastbound street from Main to Pacific in hopes of reducing accidents and improving traffic flow.

But Broadway merchants objected to the change, arguing that it strangled their businesses. In September 1983, two-way traffic was restored on the street.

But the case for one-way traffic remains, as do the arguments against it.

"I was against the one-way from the beginning," said Peter Hilty, who also was on the council during the 1983 debate. "I felt it was a mistake, and I felt changing it to two-way was a wise choice."

But Sgt. Al Moore, who heads up the traffic division of the Cape Girardeau Police Department and is a 32-year veteran of the force, contends the switch back to two-way traffic was a mistake.

"The reason it was originally changed to one way was to provide for a better flow of traffic," Moore said. "As far as moving traffic, you move more traffic down there with one way than two way."

During the debate a decade ago, two-way opponents predicted a surge of accidents if the street was changed.

Moore said several intersections on Broadway have some of the highest accident rates in the city. But those rates haven't risen with the change to two-way traffic.

A report published three years after the return of two-way traffic showed the number of accidents declined slightly along the six-block stretch of street.

Opponents of one-way traffic, on the other hand, argued most vehemently that the eastbound route hurt Broadway businesses.

Smith said he's never understood that claim. He contends motorists now avoid the congested route altogether.

"If you make it easier for people to get down there, it would bring more business into that area," he said. "I look at Main Street down there. It's one way, and I think that's fantastic, but getting to that isn't easy."

Hilty said the volume of traffic on the east end of Broadway has decreased over the years and congestion there isn't a problem.

He said the route's more convenient with two-way traffic, although he conceded the change probably did little to boost Broadway businesses.

"I can't argue that part of the city has prospered since it went back to two-way, but I don't think changing the street has anything to do with that," Hilty said.

"Traffic on Broadway on the east end has gone down a great deal in the past 20 years anyway," he added. "One- or two-way traffic isn't going to affect that."

But Moore said the real solution would have been to align eastbound traffic one way with Broadway from Kingshighway to Main, and westbound traffic one way with Independence.

Smith agreed.

"I think what we need to be doing is looking at a one-way access down and another one way back," he said. "One of the problems we had before was it was one-way east, but there was no way of getting back west without two-way traffic on Independence."

Today congestion on Broadway is a problem mostly on its west end. The route was widened to four lanes near Kingshighway, and the city has plans to eventually add lanes all the way to Caruthers.

But little can be done to widen Broadway east of West End Boulevard. That's where Moore said few options remain for dealing with traffic congestion.

"One or two choices will have to be made: Either make it one way again, or eliminate parking on one side of the street," he said. "Either way, businesses won't like it.

"I think, eventually, from (West End) Boulevard on out (west) probably will be widened."

Hilty said east-west traffic flow is a problem in Cape Girardeau. But he said the east end of Broadway, where the one-way vs. two-way controversy started, won't play into any solutions.

"I think it is a problem, but I don't think the east end of Broadway is very much involved," Hilty said. "It's certainly a problem on the west end on all types of streets."

Whether someone again recommends a one-way route through the city or if some other plan is proposed for Broadway, there's little doubt the issue will be as contentious as it was 10 years ago.

"It was one of those little things the council has to look at once in a while that really gets blown up in a hurry," said Smith.

Hilty added: "That has been a great battle over the years."