TTF committee compiles list of possible road projects for public hearings in November

The Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) 7 committee met Wednesday, Oct. 2, at Cape Girardeau City Hall to decide on a list of potential projects to receive input during public hearings in November.

The committee scored road construction/maintenance projects that could be included in TTF7. The projects were evaluated on criteria judging their viability. The roads that were assessed were:

• Veterans Memorial Drive from County Road 620 to Cape Girardeau SportsPlex (Phase 2);
• Veterans Memorial Drive from Hopper Road to Percy Drive (Phase 6);
• Independence Street from North Broadview Street to Caruthers Avenue;
• Mount Auburn Road from Kingshighway to William Street;
• William Street from Kingshighway to Aquamsi Street;
• Broadview Street from Maria Louise Lane to Independence Street;
• Fountain Street from Independence Street to William Street;
• Bloomfield Street from Kingshighway to Pacific Street;
• Perryville Road from Lexington Avenue to Perry Avenue.

At the meeting, committee chairman Jeff Maurer said the consensus among the members is that a "chunk" of the projects should focus on road maintenance. Certain projects were taken out of contention, including Independence Street from North Broadview to Caruthers Avenue and a project connecting William Street to Independence Street.

The first listed Independence Street proposal was a past TTF project that had to be shelved because of land acquisition costs.

"We'll take the official position as a committee that due to the problems acquiring, the costs and challenges of acquiring the right of way that we are officially removing it," Maurer said.

City planner Ryan Shrimplin said the money for Independence Street was repurposed and went to a North Sprigg Street project after it was determined the land could not be acquired at the price for the project.

Maurer said the issue with the project connecting William Street to Independence Street was that there is a sinkhole that would be "prohibitively" expensive to construct across.

Committee member Tamara Zellars Buck said the group might be tackling too much of the road if they choose Mount Auburn Road, considering certain parts of it are worse than others. City engineer Jake Garrard said he divided a potential Mount Auburn project into four sections. He said Hopper Road to Kingshighway is considered the worst of the four sections.

Committee member Brock Freeman also pointed out Bloomfield Street from Kingshighway to Pacific Street needs road work, possibly identifying it for a project. Buck and committee member Joe Uzoaru agreed with Freeman that road work needed to be done.

A Bloomfield project was added to the list the committee will seek public input on at the November public hearings

The public hearings will take place Thursday, Nov. 7, at Osage Centre and Shawnee Park Center. More details will be released before the hearings.

There will also be a way for the committee to receive public input on the list of possible projects online with more information to be disclosed closer to the public hearings.