Meeting on highway plan set

Business Today

JACKSON -- Officials from the Missouri Department of Transportation will meet with the public Feb. 28 to detail their plan to expand Highway 34/72 in Jackson from two lanes to four lanes and a raised median. Though MoDOT's decision last year to narrow the highway expansion from five lanes to four has drawn criticism, local officials have limited influence over improvements in a state highway.

"They say this is the type of highway they will be building all over the state from now on," says Mayor Paul Sander. "That is not debatable."

The meeting will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Jackson Middle School cafeteria.

MoDOT has decided on building four-lane highways with medians instead of five-lane roads primarily for safety reasons. Engineers say parkways have 25 percent fewer collisions compared to five-lane roads with similar traffic volumes. Traffic signals at Oklahoma, Farmington, West Main, East Lane and West Lane are designed to allow traffic to flow smoothly.

Jeff Wachter, a transportation project designer for MoDOT, said the improvement plan is still preliminary but is at a stage where MoDOT is ready to start tying down rights of way. The cost has increased $3 million in the past year to $16 million.

MoDOT officials recently met with the mayor and Board of Aldermen and with the Cape Girardeau County Commission to explain the latest version of the plan.

The plan for the 3 1/2-mile stretch between the intersection with Highway 25 west to the point where Highway 34 and Highway 72 diverge is to be completed in three phases. Purchasing of right of way for the first phase is scheduled to begin in late summer or early fall. MoDOT will begin buying 29 pieces of property, including two businesses, to make the widening possible.

In all, 160 properties are involved.

A separate project to be completed in conjunction with the first phase will widen and resurface Route 25 south of the Highway 25/34/72 intersection and add turn lanes at Jackson Trail. This is meant to provide an alternate route to tractor trailer trucks that in the future will have limited access to the industries south of Highway 34/72, such as Kasten Masonry.