Drivers frustrated with intersection at Highway 25 and Route K in Gordonville

GORDONVILLE, Mo. (KFVS) - An intersection in Cape Girardeau County has some residents speaking out after a history of car crashes.

Paula Chapman is a resident in Gordonville, Mo., where the intersection at Highway 25 and Route K is located.

”I don’t feel like the people in charge get it,” said Chapman.

Chapman and other frustrated drivers are speaking out again about the intersection that they say has been a danger zone for quite some time.

Another crash at the intersection on September 14 has drivers at their wits end. MoDOT has plans to put a roundabout in at the intersection, but residents want something done sooner.

People who drive the road daily say it’s scary, and they worry about themselves. And they hope other drivers are as cautious as they are.

“Every morning that I leave I pray that no one is gonna be hurt in an accident,” said Chapman.

This intersection became part of Chapman’s daily commute when she moved to Gordonville in 2019. She says it’s always busy.

“It takes me about ten minutes in the morning to be able to turn onto the highway,” said Chapman.

That congestion isn’t the only problem.

“There’s been two accidents there this week,” said Chapman.

This isn’t a new issue; Chapman says this has been going on since a temporary stoplight got removed in November of 2021.

”There’s been so many accidents, I’m not sure how many, I would love to know,” said Chapman.

Gordonville Fire Chief Michael Gentry has that answer.

“This is our thirteenth wreck approximately that we’ve had injuries reported to since they removed those temporary stoplights,” said Gentry.

He says most of the wrecks have involved minor injuries, but there has been one death. Their department doesn’t take the danger lightly.

“We’ve kind of ramped up our training of traffic incident system,” said Gentry.

MoDOT engineers have plans to put in a roundabout. In December 2022 at a community meeting about the intersection, project manager Tim Pickett said a roundabout is the best solution.

“Some of the reasons we chose the roundabout were functionality, it did operate better than the signal,” said Pickett. “Then also a big factor for us was safety, at a roundabout your bringing traffic in at a reduced speed usually twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, you’re also limiting the number of conflict points at the intersection.”

”This isn’t the first roundabout they’ve ever built, so they know what they’re doing so we’re leaning on that and hoping that reduces things down,” said Gentry.

As for Chapman, she doesn’t disagree with the roundabout, but she wants to see something happen sooner.

“I just worry about everybody,” said Chapman.

MoDOT expects construction on the project to start as early as Spring 2024 and hope to have the roundabout completed by Winter 2024. They will start accepting bids from contractors for the project this December.

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