Editorial

Highway links

Thursday, September 30, 2010

There is reason for excitement in both Cape Girardeau and Sikeston after the recent endorsements of an infrastructure project by the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce.

It's been long reported that Cape Girardeau has been pushing for an east-west interstate while Sikeston has pushed for a bridge across the Mississippi to the east. The competing ideas, both involving a proposed transcontinental Interstate 66, have had little traction.

The project recently endorsed by the two chambers would create a highway connecting Interstate 24 and Interstate 55 using the existing bridges at Metropolis and Cape Girardeau. The route would intersect with Interstate 57. Both Cape Girardeau and Sikeston see benefits from this connection in the short run while continuing to push for their respective long-term projects.

Along with the chamber endorsements, the Sikeston City Council noted its support for upgrading Illinois Highway 3 to a four-lane highway as well as connecting Cairo and Metropolis with a four-lane highway.

Transportation is a key component to commerce. Both communities realize this and are moving forward for the benefit of their respective cities. A unified proposal of support for the plan is also important for Illinois interests.

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GREAT IDEA!!!! It's better to work together for basicly the same goal in mind.

-- Posted by HEUER-1 on Thu, Sep 30, 2010, at 8:43 AM
The I-66 proposal makes the most sense if it is run through Sikeston. The Highway 60 corridor provides an already-extant route all the way to Springfield, with an Interstate bridge already in place on the I-57 route. A secondary, non-interstate highway makes some sense in order to connect Cape Girardeau to the new route, probably following IL Highway 3.

Unfortunately, there is no easy route to get from Cape Girardeau to Interstate 24 without going Northward, unless you follow U.S. Highway 60 or 62 through Kentucky. I believe the main objective of such a route, however, would be to ease traffic to and from the East and Southeast (the North being alread well served by Interstates 55 and 57), thus routing Northward would be counterproductive.

I realize the dream, or pipe dream, of having I-66 routed through Cape Girardeau has been pursued for many years, but a look at the map shows that the Southern route really makes a lot more sense.

To be sure, taking it even further South, to the I-55 bridge at Caruthersville, would be more logical than crossing at Cape Girardeau, but I favour the U.S. 60 route, which already has a four-lane corridor to Springfield, if not beyond.

-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Sep 30, 2010, at 9:02 AM
Sorry, make that the I-155 bridge at Caruthersville.

-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Sep 30, 2010, at 9:08 AM

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