CAPE'S STREET PROJECTS ARE MOVING ALONG

With Cape Girardeau's Transportation Trust Fund, the city is well down the road to better streets.

Monday night, the City Council approved a number of projects including the long-awaited improvements to Broadway and Bloomfield.

The improvements haven't come without some inconvenience to motorists and residents near construction sites. Because of major widening project, Perryville Road has been closed for some time. It will reopen this month.

But most everyone will agree that each completed project is a wonderful addition to the city's infrastructure. Ultimately, these street improvements provide a smoother flow of traffic. And good streets are imperative for a thriving community.

Cape Girardeau's daily traffic flow is much greater than its census numbers. That's because the city serves as a medical, retail and educational hub for the region.

The city has begun to explore the possibility of extending the sales tax used for the Transportation Trust Fund. The council plans to spend much of the year gathering public support for the matter. The final decision, of course, would rest with the voters. The tax was approved by voters in 1995 and will expire Dec. 31, 2000.

Taxpayers may be receptive to such an extension because this first Transportation Trust Fund has delivered on its promises. A government program that keeps its word to voters? Perhaps the state and federal pen-pushers should pay heed. The fact that it is a sales tax makes the tax bite a little easier to swallow.

If the city plans to repeat, it should follow the same methodology as before. First, the city did a good job gathering public input. In turn, it used that input to fashion a list of the top 20 priority projects to be completed under the first five-year trust fund.

The work also included the paving of gravel streets plus sidewalk, curb and gutter repairs.

In whittling the list to 20, a number of worthwhile projects were left undone.

The road projects may be fresh on the minds of citizens this year as the city embarks on some of the most visible ones. Major overhauls of sections of Broadway, Bloomfield Road and Mount Auburn Road will begin this spring.

A half-mile stretch of Broadway from Clark Street to Perry Avenue will be widened to four lanes. Mount Auburn will be widened from Route K to Independence. Bloomfield will be widened from Kingshighway to Interstate 55.

Yes, these projects are likely to snarl traffic for awhile. But residents must look beyond the immediate inconveniences and consider the overall improvements.

The city is delivering on the blueprint for progress approved by voters in 1995. This is why the Transportation Trust Fund has worked. And it is why voters should seriously consider putting an extension on the ballot before it expires.