Casey Brunke, Cape Girardeau city engineer, strives to make Cape Girardeau better for its residents and visitors, whether it is working with transportation or infrastructure projects.

If Cape Girardeau offers top-notch streets and infrastructure, it betters the entire community, she says.

Brunke was born and raised in Southeast Missouri and witnessed a near-complete turnaround of the city, as it now offers so many new and fantastic opportunities.

"It's been phenomenal to see how much it's grown," she says of Cape Girardeau. "It just keeps getting better and better."

Brunke says the most satisfying part of her job is working to develop different parts of the city, including transportation projects like the Broadway Corridor -- one of her proudest projects -- and infrastructure projects like the business park at the Interstate 55-East Main Street/LaSalle Avenue interchange.

Anything that helps make a person's route from point A to point B easier is what Brunke's job is all about, and she still feels a sense of pride as she drives along Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"Everything just fell into place, and it just was a fantastic project to be a part of," she says.

As an engineer, Brunke is a problem-solver by nature, and she enjoys helping others with issues they come across, such as potholes or street or sidewalk repairs.

"I love when people call in with ideas like that," she says. "Sometimes that's how some projects get started."

--Amity Shedd