CITIZENS ASK ABOUT PLANS FOR BLOOMFIELD

About 65 Bloomfield Road residents attended an open house Thursday to learn about improvement work scheduled to begin in the spring.

Engineers with the city of Cape Girardeau and with Black & Veach, the St. Louis firm that designed Bloomfield improvement plans, were on hand to answer questions at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

The city intends to widen and reconstruct the 1.25-mile section of Bloomfield between Kingshighway and Siemers Drive. The result, engineers hope, will be a safer roadway with better sight distance at intersections. Drainage also will be improved and a sidewalk added.

Improvements will be funded, at least in part, by the half-cent transportation sales tax passed by Cape Girardeau voters in August 1995. The project cost estimate is $894,500, and the City Council hasn't decided how much of that amount, if any, will be picked up by property owners along Bloomfield.

The city conducted a similar meeting in July for residents of Perryville Road. Mayor Al Spradling III said he was glad to see plenty of residents at both events.

"When they come out, we're able to let them know more about the project and dispel any wrong ideas they may have," he said.

Most of the people Spradling talked to were looking forward to the improvements but were concerned about some of the technical aspects.

Florence James, who lives at 2849 Bloomfield, brought her daughter and brother to the open house. She wanted to know how much of her relatively shallow front yard would be taken by the project.

"The way it is proposed, it will put my house too close to the street," James said. "It would also make my driveway much steeper. Across the street, there are hundreds of feet that could be used."

She said her comments were well received by engineers, who assured her they would look into the problem.

The next open house on transportation sales tax projects will be Oct. 3 at the Arena Building. It will address Broadway improvements and traffic signal upgrades. The public is invited, and plans for Perryville Road and Bloomfield Road will be available to people who missed the first two events.