Transportation Trust Fund 7 committee accepting applications; focus will be on repairing existing roads

A Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) 7 committee is taking shape as the City of Cape Girardeau accepts applications until Monday, May 13.

Mayor Stacy Kinder said the city plans to expand the number of at-large members from previous TTF committees.

The TTF committee will submit proposals for street projects to the council in November or December, Kinder said. She described TTF as “invaluable” to the city.

The city rolls out a new TTF plan to voters every five years. The seventh plan will go to voters on the April 2025 ballot. The fund is supported by a one-half of one percent sales tax. The city is still finishing projects from the TTF 5 and TTF 6 plans, approved by voters in 2015 and 2020.

There are three different TTF 5 street projects still left to fully complete. According to an email from the City of Cape Girardeau, while the road work on West End Boulevard from Rose Street to Bertling Street is complete, some “closeout/paperwork tasks” are yet to be finished.

The city is finalizing contracts for construction bidding on Main Street from Roberts to Cape Rock (TTF5). The Main Street project construction is currently set for sometime this year. The TTF 5 Independence project from North Broadview to Caruthers has not yet started and is under review. In January, city engineer Jake Garrard told the Southeast Missourian the city was working on acquisitions for improvements on the project.

Garrard also said in the article the city didn’t want to start too early on the Main Street project while Lexington Avenue was going through repairs to cause too much traffic.

There are four TTF 6 projects ongoing or coming soon. The Lexington Avenue project started on Sprigg and will go toward Big Bend and Old Sprigg, according to a City of Cape Girardeau project update. Garrard described the improvements to Lexington Avenue as an 18-monthlong project in the Southeast Missourian article.

The survey work for Sprigg from Shawnee to Southern Expressway is finished with the in-house design for the project being worked on. The project is set for 2024 to 2025. In-house design for Bertling from Perryville to Big Bend will start after the design is completed for Sprigg. The survey work for Bertling is completed and construction is set for 2025 to 2026.

Veterans Memorial Drive is going through preliminary design, property acquisition and grading. Construction on the extension will not move forward until TTF 7, according to previous reporting.

City officials have met with engineers to discuss certain alignment and grading details, according to information provided by the city.

Route K Corridor Safety Improvements are also part of the TTF 6 projects. Missouri Department of Transportation held a meeting Thursday, April 18, about the project. The estimated cost will be around $8-10 million, according to state materials. City of Cape Girardeau 2020 TTF 6 documents stated the original estimated contribution from the fund was $500,000.

The 2023-24 asphalt overlay project is finished with Lappe Cement contracted to work on 2024-2025. The streets included in the most recent asphalt overlay project are 300 to 400 blocks of South Middle Street; 300 to 400 blocks of South Frederick Street; and 500 to 600 blocks of Jefferson Avenue.

The concrete street repair 2023-2024 is still in progress with Clark from Broadway to Lombardo repairs underway and work on Perryville Road from Cape Rock Road to Sherwood repairs scheduled. The city’s project update stated there will be “substantial completion at the end of August 2024.” Streets for the Concrete Street Repair 2024-2025 are still yet to be determined.