The gravel has to go!

So proclaimed Cape Girardeau voters who have grown weary of dealing with gravel streets.

Fact is they're adamant enough about this issue to register their sentiments via a yes vote at the ballot box Tuesday.

"For $10 a front foot, it's worth it to go out and vote on the transportation tax," said Renee Pingel, who lives on Jasmine, one of several streets yet to be paved.

Renee and Dale Pingel built a new home on Jasmine recently. "Anybody who visits us has to go through gravel streets like Dixie and Magnolia and it becomes tiresome after a while," Renee Pingel said.

Her husband said a city Cape Girardeau's size shouldn't have gravel streets. The thing about this is that it seems everybody, from the city council to the chamber of commerce and a lot of other people are for taking care of the streets.

City officials have said most gravel roads would be paved with 3-inch asphalt if the transportation tax passes.

Passage of the tax would provide the $1.1 million necessary to pave the remaining two miles of gravel roads.

Paving gravel roads is one of 20 road and bridge projects the city lists for funding through the tax dollars.

The last time the transportation tax was put to the people, in 1987, some 13 miles of road were still gravel. Now there is slightly more than two miles of streets that are gravel.

City Planning Coordinator Ken Eftink said streets with vacated homes or in flood plains would likely be omitted from the overlay program.

"Streets that are not being used because the homes are vacant would have to be considered in a different way than ones where people are living," Eftink said.

Streets in Smelterville, such as Beech, Giboney and the east end of La Cruz, might not be paved if the city proceeds with a federal buyout program.

"The areas that the city has the most interest in are streets like Dixie, Magnolia, Brucher; places where there are families and are getting traffic," Eftink said, adding that the asphalt overlay program has not included all gravel streets because "the cost of that on some of the projects gets expensive due to drainage problems."

With money from a transportation tax, however, the city would be able to afford to share the cost of such a project, charging residents $10 a front foot.

Paul Herzberger, who lives on Dixie, said the city will save money by paving the gravel street he has used the past year. "Each time it rains, the gravel gets washed out," Herzberger said. "Maintenancewise, the city is just beating itself up by having to go back and lay gravel on these roads."

Herzberger moved to Cape Girardeau from Naples, Fla. "People in that city just gave up trying to do projects with the support of the city," he said. "If the owners didn't pay 100 percent of the cost of the project, it didn't get done."

He is concerned with the condition of streets throughout Cape Girardeau.

"I'm all for building up streets in this city because we all use them everyday," he said.

The Rev. Hal Green, who attended Vision 2000 public meetings on the transportation tax issue, said his neighbors have been asking for asphalt for several years.

"We're all just tired of eating the dust," Green said at one of the meetings. The dust collects in Green's lungs, on his clothes and the interior of his car.

Both Green and Herzberger said their neighbors have told them they would vote yes for a transportation tax if they could get asphalt on their streets.

Friday: How Cape Girardeau compares with other cities in sales taxes. Also, a look at neighboring cities that have transportation taxes.

GRAVEL STREETS TARGETED FOR PAVING UNDER SALES TAX PLAN

Timberlane Drive

Magnolia Avenue

Dixie Boulevard

Flint Hill Road

Timon Way

Capaha Trail

Country Club Drive

Garden Lane

Vincent Avenue

DePaul Lane

Donna Lane

Rand Street

Hill Street

Riverview Drive

Water Street

First Street

N. Lorimier Street

Pearl Street

N. Fountain Street

Mason Street

Amethyst Street

Brucher Street

Giboney Street

Fort Street

Beaudean Lane

Walnut Street

Elm Street

Engram Street

Highland Drive

Oakland Street

Hunter's Lane

Bevin Drive

Redwood Drive

Cedar Lane

Delwin Street

Terry Lane

Joanne Street