TTF 6 sales tax collection begins Jan. 1

A half-cent sales tax used to fund the city of Cape Girardeau's transportation improvement projects has been collected continuously since 1995.

Beginning in the new year, it will go to fund a new group of projects, what city officials call TTF 6 — in other words, the sixth iteration of the Transportation Trust Fund.

TTF allows the city to make needed roadway improvements on a pay-as-you-go basis without having to issue interest-generating bonds.

The program sunsets every five years, allowing voters to participate directly in determining and approving specific projects.

The most recent approval of TTF 6, which came during the June 2 primary election, was by 63.7% or voters.

The projects for TTF 6 are:

• Repair of Bertling Street between Perryville and Big Bend roads.
• Extend College Street between West End Boulevard and South Minnesota Avenue.
• Repair and enhance Lexington Avenue between Carolina Lane and Sherwood Drive and from West Cape Rock Drive to Sprigg Street.
• Enable design work for improvements to Maria Louise Lane, Kiwanis Drive and Broadview Street near the Arena Park entrance.
• Make school corridor safety improvements along Route K near the city's western limits.
• Design, acquire the right of way for and grade Veterans Memorial Drive between Hopper Road and Percy Drive.

In what may be one of the more expensive of the TTF 6 plans, Sprigg Street will be repaired between Shawnee Parkway and Southern Expressway.

"The Sprigg project may cost as much as $2.5 million and it is much needed in the south part of Cape," Mayor Bob Fox said.

Fox said work on all TTF 6 projects will be done when sufficient revenue is received by the city.

TTF 5 progress

In the last round of TTF, the approval of TTF 5 in 2015 with 73.4% voter support, a few projects remain to be finished.

City planner Ryan Shrimplin told the city's Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission on Wednesday about several in-process infrastructure initiatives.

• The West End project from Rose to Bertling streets involves road widening, sidewalks and the creation of "pop-up" parking spaces.

Shrimplin told P&Z the job will be let in late winter with construction to begin in the spring.

"We need 109 temporary construction easements for the project and we have acquired 88 so far," Shrimplin said.

• Road widening projects are in a more preliminary stage on Independence Street from Broadview to Caruthers streets and on Main Street from Roberts Street to Cape Rock Drive.
• Street resurfacing is in the design phase on Sprigg Street from William Street to Broadway, and Shrimplin told the commission a stormwater study has also been done.

Approval

By a 7-0 vote, P&Z approved Christian Faith Fellowship's request to zone property at 4178 Route K as C-2 (highway commercial district) upon annexation into the city's Ward 6. The approval goes as a recommendation to the City Council, which will hold a public hearing on the church's request at its Dec. 21 meeting.