BROADWAY PLANS: ONE WAY, WIDENING ARE AMONG OPTIONS

Broadway is one of Cape Girardeau's busiest thoroughfares, particularly as it approaches Kingshighway. The street was widened to four lanes from Kingshighway east to Clark in 1990 to help ease traffic congestion.

The city has included a proposal to extend the widening of Broadway to four lanes from Clark to Caruthers in its five-year capital improvement plan. The Planning and Zoning Commission would like to make Broadway four lanes all the way to Perry as part of the transportation sales tax proposal that will be on the Aug. 8 ballot.

The widening to Caruthers has been estimated at $400,000. Extending the four lanes to Perry would add another $100,000.

Widening Broadway to Perry also would take chunks from the fronts of some businesses and homes. At least one businessman has suggested the city instead consider making Broadway one way (in companion with Independence one way the other way). A portion of Broadway was one way for a while a few years ago. But the latest proposal for a one-way Broadway includes widening all the way downtown to avoid any bottlenecks.

One-way Broadway is a suggestion that gives many Cape Girardeans reason to pause. The last one-way experiment was fraught with community discord and unhappiness by a number of businesses along the major east-west artery.

Granted, the last experiment was less than ideal. Most communities that have a one-way street system make the entire length of a major thoroughfare one way, with the opposite one way on an adjacent street. Not so here.

In 1976, the city council approved one-way traffic on Broadway from Main to Pacific. The traffic flow was eastbound. City officials hoped the one-way traffic would cut down on accidents and improve traffic flow. It grew out of a 1974 traffic study.

But partial one-way travel on Broadway proved confusing. It wasn't uncommon to see a car going the wrong way at least once a week. Many downtown merchants complained that the traffic pattern limited business as well.

In November 1977, two-way traffic was restored to the section of Broadway from Main to Lorimier, but it remained one-way in the six blocks from Lorimier to Pacific until September 1983.

Confused? So was much of Cape Girardeau and many of its visitors. Any discussion about one-way traffic will be tainted by memories of that failed experiment.

There is no doubt that something needs to be done to improve traffic flow along Broadway. Even in a 1990 traffic study, Broadway was among the city's most heavily traveled streets. But much of the traffic is concentrated from Kingshighway to Sprigg, where a number of restaurants, businesses and schools feed heavy traffic onto Broadway.

One-way traffic itself isn't bad. Uniformity and access must be key considerations. If the city would consider the entire length of Broadway one-way eastbound, and the entire length of Independence one-way westbound, then perhaps the experiment would be worth a try.

Extending four lanes of Broadway all the way downtown, however, wouldn't be practical. From West End eastward, many businesses are separated from the narrow street only by a sidewalk. Besides, traffic counts on Broadway south of Sprigg probably wouldn't justify the expense. The P&Z plan to widen Broadway to Perry seems well thought out. Eventually, the four lanes could be extended to West End with very little trouble, since widening could be accomplished along the edge of Capaha Park.

Most people would rather talk about widening than resuscitating one-way Broadway.