EVERYONE WILL BENEFIT FROM SIEMERS WIDENING

Seldom do all parties involved in a public project come together in a spirit of cooperation as did those who will be involved in the widening of Siemers Drive.

The cooperative effort demonstrates an understanding of the pressing need to widen the busy street that provides access to shopping and entertainment.

The Cape Girardeau City Council on July 2 approved an agreement that will allow for the street to be widened between Campster Street and Bloomfield Road.

Under the agreement, Drury Southwest Inc. will do the work this year, first obtaining bids subject to approval of the city engineer. Drury Southwest eventually will be reimbursed by the city through revenue from the city's Transportation Trust Fund.

This is similar to other street projects that have been moved up on the priority list of street projects, with the city reimbursing the costs when trust-fund revenue becomes available.

The city also has agreements with the commercial property owners along the route. They provide that commercial property owners will be assessed tax bills to pay to widen the street to 40 feet from the existing 32-foot pavement, and the city will pick up the cost of further widening the street to 48 feet.

What sold the city on carrying out the improvement now was Drury Southwest's offer to begin immediately on the widening. Had the city waited until it could afford to do the work with Transportation Trust Fund money, it would have been next year before it could award a contract.

With Drury's offer, the city will reimburse the company the $1,114,124 the project will cost, the street for all practical purposes will remain open while the work is done, and the project is slated to be completed by Thanksgiving, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

And the price is right: $416,876 below the city engineer's $1,531,000 estimate for the widening, which was a major factor in the city's decision to proceed under the cooperative arrangement.

Because Siemers Drive serves a number of large stores and other businesses between Route K and Bloomfield Road, it carries a lot of traffic. It became necessary to add a four-way stop at the Siemers-Lambert intersection, and that has caused a significant bottleneck.

The city has carried out two other projects on the west side under similar arrangements with Drury Southwest: the extension of South Mount Auburn Drive and of Siemers Drive from Bloomfield Road to Highway 74. The approach has worked well.