Good job on Bloomfield

I am writing to commend the city staff, including city engineers, for the outstanding job they have done in designing the improvements to Bloomfield Road.

Bloomfield Road is a historic and beautiful corridor while at the same time heavily traveled and dangerous. Recognizing the beauty and dangers associated with this road, city staffers went out of their way to preserve the beauty and mitigate the dangerous parts of the road. For example, they chose to use vertical retaining walls to preserve the best of the trees, reduced part of the road to 28 feet, which allowed the corridor to sit within the present roadway and ditches (with minor exceptions), and rather than sidewalks, which would take significantly more trees, they chose a meandering hiking and biking trail that leaves most of the beautiful trees along the road. In essence the majority of the trees removed will be smaller trees that will not harm the canopy over the road. In addition, the very dangerous intersection of County Roads 205 and 206 will be modified so that safety will be improved.

When I purchased my property from Andy Juden Sr., I accepted a trust from him that the property that surrounded the old Mount Tabor Park would be kept as pristine as possible. Over those years I have done everything possible to be sure that the trust was kept. I know that city departments have been very careful to see that the essential nature of Bloomfield Road is preserved and enhanced.

EARL NORMAN, Cape Girardeau