Editorial

EFFORTS CONTINUE TO RESOLVE HIGHWAY PLANS

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The district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation recently gave governments in Cape Girardeau County some hope that a couple of highway projects the local governments want done could be accomplished in the not-too-distant future.

Jackson would like to extend East Main Street eastward to Interstate 55 and get MoDOT to build an I-55 interchange for the new street. Cape Girardeau wants a new highway connecting Route K and the new I-55-Highway 74 interchange somewhere southwest of the busy I-55-Route K interchange.

Both governments and the Cape Girardeau County Commission have passed resolutions favoring those projects in addition to redesign of the busy U.S. 61-I-55 interchange, commonly known as Center Junction, between Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The local governments have been adamant about those projects and on occasion have criticized MoDOT for not putting them higher on a list of highway projects MoDOT sees as priorities in the region.

Redesign of Center Junction and the East Main-I-55 interchange are among 13 projects on a MoDOT priority list but aren't ranked high on the list. Recently, the district engineer, Scott Meyer, said Center Junction could be improved sometime between 2005 and 2006, and the East Main-I-55 interchange is about 10 years off. Those projections, he said, could be moved up considerably if local financial contributions were made toward the projects.

Meyer raised good points on why the two projects aren't higher on the list. He said traffic moves well through Center Junction, which, although ill-designed, it does. And, he said, an I-55 interchange with East Main wouldn't be a connection with a state highway. Therefore, local contributions of approximately 50 percent would be needed if the interchange is to built. It isn't the state's responsibility to build roads to alleviate Jackson's local traffic problems, he said.

MoDOT has shown a willingness to cooperate in meeting wishes of the local governments. It now leaves those -- both governments and business interests -- who want the new interchange and Center Junction improvements done sooner with decisions to make on how to help finance the work.