NEW HIGHWAY SPARKS SAFETY CONCERNS FOR PEDESTRIANS

More students at May Greene School in Cape Girardeau are taking the bus to school because of concerns about pedestrian safety at Highway 74 and Sprigg Street.

A pedestrian crossing light is in place at the intersection, but school officials don't want to take any chances with the grade school students attempting to cross the highway on their way to or from school, said Dr. Barbara Kohlfeld, May Greene principal.

The crossing light is helpful, she said, "but you've got to get to the little island to get to the button" that signals the walk/don't walk light.

"We've added quite a few kids to the bus because we want to make sure they get through the construction area," Kohlfeld said. "I don't know what the city is planning to do about the crossing. I guess I'm assuming there's some long-range planning that's going to allow for a safer alternative."

Normally, the district only buses students who live more than a mile from their school, she said, but students who would have to cross the highway have been added to the bus routes.

The speed limit is now 45 mph along the highway, which dead ends just east of Sprigg Street. A fence follows the highway west of the intersection, but it's not unusual for teens and area residents climb the fence and cross the highway rather than walking to the signal light at the intersection.

Expanding the bus routes is "just a temporary solution," Kohlfeld said.

Officer Ike Hammonds of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he's seen teens climbing the fence.

"These aren't little grade school kids," Hammonds said. "Two steps, and they're over that fence."

Hammonds said he's scheduled to have a talk with May Greene students about safety at the intersection.

"I don't know why they put such a low fence there," he said, adding people "just crawl across it, because it's so low."

No complaints about pedestrians on the highway have been registered with the police department.

Jim Murray, district engineer for the Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation, said he isn't aware of any safety concerns at the intersection.

"We put the fence there to keep people from walking off the right-of-way onto the roadway," he said.

As for people climbing the fence, he said, "I don't know if there's anything we can do about that."

Kohlfeld said she isn't sure what action could be taken to improve the intersection.

The new Highway 74 bridge route now runs from Sprigg to Kingshighway. The route eventually will link Interstate 55 with a new Mississippi River bridge.

Current plans don't call for any further improvements at the intersection, Murray said.

Kohlfeld said she's also concerned the highway will become "a physical barrier to our school, and we'll be the only school on the other side."