DESPITE ALL HARDSHIPS, BRIDGE IS OPPORTUNITY

Progress is at times a painful enterprise. For all the long-range good that comes of collective advancement, small instances of individual reversals are inevitable. Such is the case with the proposed bridge to replace the existing span over the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. While some residents being displaced by the route that leads westward from the new bridge are pleased by their circumstance, others are distressed. One fact remains inarguable: Cape Girardeau needs this bridge, and in the long run all citizens will benefit from it.

A series of articles in the Southeast Missourian last week detailed the process through which more than 100 people will be relocated because of the bridge route. Among those in the path of this work are some who feel under-compensated, some who are jubilant because of an unexpected financial windfall and some who are baffled by the vagaries of laws meant to combine property lines with individual needs and somehow create a basic fairness.

The state of Missouri has set aside about $6 million to realize this fairness, putting forth payments not only for property acquired but money to ease the burden of relocation. Even renters are not displaced without compensation. Still, a home represents something very personal to every person, and the state, despite all good intentions, can never sufficiently remunerate a home~owner who wants to stay put but must give up property to satisfy the public good.

Is it unfair that some people must give up their homes for this project? In the eyes of some of those affected by this route, it is. However, geography, history and fiscal good sense have conspired against them. Nature, not the state, carved bends in the river over centuries that make it necessary for the bridge to be built only in certain locations; one of those locations aligns with the route now planned. This bridge has been on the drawing board for years, and officials have devised a route with an eye to cost efficiency and satisfaction of community goals. It's difficult to imagine a bridge that would be fully useful for the community without having it at a location where some human impact is felt.

The bottom line is this: Cape Girardeau has benefited from a river bridge since 1928, but that span is badly dated. A new bridge is in the works to replace it before the end of this decade. State officials are trying to accommodate the people being displaced by this project to the fullest extent of their resources and the law. True, if your house is not scheduled to be leveled in the name of progress, it's hard to put yourself in the shoes of one who is in that position. But, the new bridge will not only provide motorists with an added measure of safety and convenience, it offers Cape Girardeau a terrific opportunity for civic progress. We acknowledge the hardships brought about to create this opportunity, but accept them as inevitable in a project of this type and hope they are tem~pered so no parties suffer too greatly.