Wider road worries some in E. Cape

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Construction crews are widening the main highway in this town of 478 people, much to the dismay of some residents and business owners who say the $3 million project isn't needed and will lead to more traffic accidents.

"I don't think it will help anybody over here," said Floyd Ralls as he mowed his small, tidy yard last week a few blocks from the highway construction. Ralls said a wider road means residents will have to pull across more lanes of traffic to turn left and head west across the Mississippi River bridge to Cape Girardeau to work and shop.

That could make it more dangerous for school buses and children who often cross Highway 146 on their bicycles, he said.

"I don't think it warrants five lanes," said village resident Mellisa Butler, who also sees the road improvements as a traffic hazard.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is widening Highway 146 from two lanes to five lanes. The widened and slightly realigned highway will extend over a mile from the new Mississippi River bridge approach to just past Bader Lane, where it will return to the existing two-lane road all the way east to the Route 3 junction, IDOT officials say.

Grading work has been under way for several weeks, and the contractor, Southern Illinois Asphalt of Marion, Ill., could begin paving work later this month. The project is expected to be completed by the end of June.

Longtime Mayor Joe Aden said a wider road was inevitable because the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction will have four lanes. It would have been difficult to funnel four lanes of bridge traffic down to two lanes through town, he said.

But he doubts the new road will spark any commercial or residential growth. That's because federal flood-plain regulations make it impractical to build new structures in the town without elevating them on stilts, Aden said.

However, the handful of existing businesses could see more customers once the road and the new bridge are completed, he said.

Lenny Martin, who owns Karpet Korner on Highway 146, likes the fact the new road will have a center left-turn lane through the village.

"The turn lane will help an awful lot. It should cut out a lot of the wrecks," he said. "We're ready for the big road."

No private entrances

In contrast to Martin, others are unhappy about the design, particularly the closing of private drives leading to the village's few businesses.

The improved highway will be a limited-access road with no private entrances or exits. The Purple Crackle nightclub will lose all three of its entrances, forcing customers to travel on side streets and through parking lots to reach the place.

Construction work on the highway already has closed two entrances. "It has been devastating to our business," said nightclub owner David Pearce, who serves on the town board.

Pearce said the town only has seven businesses, including his nightclub and a mobile home park and campground he owns. The road project, through the purchase of right of way, shut down three other businesses, including a beauty shop, Pearce said.

Pearce and other businessmen in the town say they've been told the new asphalt road, which will have curbs and gutters and 10-foot paved shoulders, will be separated from their properties on both sides by a chain-link fence.

But Bill Zdankiewicz, an IDOT engineer with the agency's field office in East Cape Girardeau, said he's seen no plans to erect such fencing.

He also said there are no plans to raise the posted speed limit from 45 mph to 55 mph.

High speed limit or no, East Cape Girardeau residents and town officials believe the wider road will encourage motorists to speed through the town.

"I think it is an accident waiting to happen," Pearce said.

Aden said village officials have asked IDOT to at least consider installing a flashing yellow light, but the agency so far has rejected the idea.

14,000 vehicles a day

Missouri highway officials estimate about 14,000 vehicles a day cross the old river bridge at Cape Girardeau. East Cape Girardeau residents say traffic will increase once the new bridge opens.

Some Missouri residents are afraid to cross the 75-year-old rusty, existing span which in recent years has frequently been reduced to one lane for bridge repairs, Illinois residents say.

Kenneth Maupin, who operates the town's only restaurant, said the narrow, deteriorating river bridge and the traffic tie-ups caused by the latest road construction have hurt his business. Maupin operates Courtney's.

Maupin bought the restaurant in December but hadn't counted on the downturn in business. "I didn't know it was going to be this bad," he said last Thursday as two people ate in the otherwise empty restaurant.

Maupin said his business depends to a large extent on Missouri customers. "People will not drive across that bridge," he said.

Those that do can count on some traffic congestion while the roadwork proceeds this spring and summer, IDOT officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123