Sunday's Southeast Missourian newspaper included an ad that should make some people in the northwestern part of Cape Girardeau happy. The ad seeks bids for constructing a wider and straighter Perryville Road.

For almost a decade, city officials have discussed improving the northern reaches of Perryville Road. By the beginning of next summer, Perryville Road from Meyer Drive to the entrance to the Hanover Lutheran Church, could be a 36-foot-wide concrete road with curbs and gutters and a sidewalk on one side, said Mark Lester, Cape Girardeau city engineer.

Another project that's been batted around for just as long -- building a new stretch of Hopper Road from Mount Auburn Road to Kage Road -- has passed a milestone as well. City engineers have finished the design of that section.

However, the city has not yet purchased all the right of way for Hopper Road. Plus, the project is lower on the priority list that the city established in 1995 when voters ratified the half-cent seven-year transportation sales tax.

Both Perryville Road and the existing stretch of Hopper Road west of Mount Auburn, which doesn't connect with the other sections of Hopper Road, are 22-foot-wide asphalt roads with no shoulders.

It took so long to get this far on those projects because the city didn't have the money, said Mayor Al Spradling III, and because the city had ambitious plans like building Lexington Road.

In the meantime, Perryville Road has deteriorated and its traffic load increased. The narrow surface appears to be a series of patches rather than a single surface. It has at least three sharp blind curves with little margin for error.

With new subdivisions going in and people from all over the city using Perryville Road to go to Procter and Gamble and the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, it is imperative to improve the road soon, Spradling said.

When the construction is finished, the worst curves will be straightened, the worst hills made less steep and it will be wide enough to have turning lanes if the engineers determine they are needed, according to plans on file in city hall.

Lester said construction won't close the road completely, but at times, only one lane will be open with traffic in one direction diverted through a nearby subdivision.

That possibility doesn't bother Pat Donaldson who lives at the intersection of Perryville and Belleridge Pike. Residents along her street have long complained about the amount of traffic.

"You just have to expect to have a little bit of problems in order to achieve better streets," Donaldson said.

She's happy the road will have sidewalks, because she likes to walk. "There's nowhere to walk," she said. And Donaldson said, driving on the road is dangerous.

Indeed, there are places on Perryville Road where the edge of the asphalt leads immediately to a ditch.

Plans call for a sidewalk on the west side next to Woodland Hills and the east side next to the Sangarro subdivision, Lester said. The budget calls for the city to spend about $1.4 million on the nearly-one-mile-long stretch of road.

Plans call for Hopper Road to have sidewalks on both sides, Lester said. Like Perryville Road, it would be 36 feet wide and concrete.

Plans call for it to connect with a widened section of Hopper coming in from the east side of Mount Auburn. In a separate project funded with state money, the city plans to rebuild the bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek on Hopper and widen that section to 36 feet as well, Lester said.

The old Hopper Road would remain open, but would probably carry less traffic, Lester said.

CAPE GIRARDEAU TRANSPORTATION TAX UPDATE

-- About 1,700 feet of gravel streets paved so far, 2,800 feet removed by flood buyout, 4,100 feet to be paved under next contract with bid specifications advertised Sept. 14, and 1,300 feet to be paved under Community Development Block Grant program.

-- Overlay contract for Kingsway Drive and New Madrid Street awarded to Apex Paving on Aug. 3.

-- Kelley Construction continues work on sidewalk, curb and gutter repair.

Perryville Road, from near Meyer Drive to city limits:

-- Final design completed.

-- Bid specifications advertised Sunday Sept. 21.

Hopper Road, Mount Auburn west to Kage Road:

-- Final design completed.

-- Right of way acquisition continues.

Silver Springs Road, William to Independence:

-- Right-of-way drawings complete.

-- City staff to complete construction plans.

-- Schedule established.

Bloomfield Road, Christine Street east to Spring Street:

-- City staff doing engineering.

-- Design work started.

-- Plans for construction to begin this year.

Broadway, widening and reconstruction:

-- Meeting held with property owners June 19.

-- Plans in quality control for final check.

-- Bid documents being prepared and right-of-way documents being written.

-- Traffic study for stop-light project complete with report forthcoming.

Mount Auburn Road widening and traffic signals

-- Schedule to be established.

-- Engineering to be done for city staff.

New Route 74 connections:

-- Lorimier Street connection to be scheduled in connection with completion of river bridge.

-- Mount Auburn Road, Bloomfield South design complete and right-of-way acquisition begun.

-- Siemers Drive, Bloomfield South excess dirt from Route 74 Interstate 55 interchange being placed on Siemers Drive right of way.

-- Silver Springs Road, Bloomfield South, should be complete in 1997.

Bloomfield Road, Kingshighway to Interstate 55:

-- Design contract awarded to Black and Veatch.

-- Base map and survey work complete.

New Madrid Street, Show-Me Center west to Perry:

Penzel Construction has begun work.

Source: City of Cape Girardeau report, filed Sept. 9.