KINGSWAY PROVISIONS PROPOSED

A city street offers an avenue for alleviating traffic congestion at Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive.

Officials with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department and the city of Cape Girardeau want to close a section of Kingsway and make it a right-turn lane for northbound traffic on Kingshighway turning east on Cape Rock.

"It would help the intersection a great deal," said Jack Grimes, a state highway engineer at Sikeston.

About 31,000 to 32,000 cars a day travel through that section of Kingshighway. Northbound traffic backs up at Cape Rock, particularly during evening rush hour, Grimes said.

The City Council will consider setting a public hearing on the issue when it meets tonight.

City Engineer J. Kensey Russell said the city wants to obtain input from Kingsway property owners and businesses that might be affected by the project.

Bill Cheek, who operates Cheekwood photography studio at 2336 Kingsway, said the closing of a small section of Kingsway won't affect his business. "I know we could definitely use some type of right-turn lane right there at the intersection," Cheek said.

He said few motorists travel north on Kingsway to Cape Rock. Most of his customers head south on Kingsway when they leave his studio.

Kingsway parallels Kingshighway from north of Broadway to Cape Rock. It is a one-lane road northbound from the St. Andrew Lutheran Church parking lot entrance to the intersection with Cape Rock.

As it approaches Cape Rock, the street comes within a few feet of Kingshighway. In fact, the city street is on state right of way at that point, Grimes said.

Grimes said the turn lane could be constructed by cutting through the Kingshighway curb and connecting the state route with a short stretch of what is currently Kingsway.

Kingsway would dead-end north of the south entrance to the church parking lot.

The state highway department would construct the right turn lane. The entire project would cost about $3,000, Grimes said.

If the City Council approves the project, the work could be done in August, Grimes said.