AND NOW THE REAL TEST FOR CITY'S ROUNDABOUT

Cape Girardeau's first roundabout at Gordonville and Silver Springs roads is again open after the circular pavement was widened by two feet.

With the completion of that widening project, the new section of Silver Springs Road from Route K has been opened.

The roundabout has spawned controversy since it was built, and the city hopes the extra two feet of pavement will keep drivers from running up on the center and outer curbs.

With Silver Springs Road now feeding the roundabout with traffic from the south end, more vehicles are funneled into the intersection, and the real test has begun. Time will tell whether the addition of two feet of pavement will make it easier to negotiate without rubbing tires on the curbs.

But on the good side, the roundabout re-opened without fanfare nearly two weeks ago, and calls to Speak Out or incidents at the intersections have been nonexistent.

The city deserves credit for moving quickly once the final decision was made to modify the roundabout. Of course, would not have been a problem had the circular drive been built large enough to begin with.

At any rate, slow and easy is the rule when negotiating Cape Girardeau's only roundabout.