Truck bypass slated for PB industrial park

Business Today

POPLAR BLUFF -- The $7,200 cost of an engineering study for a bypass to the Poplar Bluff Industrial Park will be split between the city and Butler County.

City Manager Doug Bagby told Poplar Bluff City Council members Dec. 6 that he has added $3,600 to the budget of Poplar Bluff Industries, Inc., the industrial division of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bagby said the bypass will go west from the industrial park along County Road 305 to the intersection of Bypass U.S. 67 and Highway M.

"It will be a truck route for the industrial park. It will take a lot of truck traffic out of town," Bagby said.

City and county officials, plant managers in the industrial park and the Missouri Department of Transportation are working to make the proposed project a reality.

"The bypass is on the list of priority items we discussed during the council retreat in July," Bagby said.

Mayor Loyd Matthews noted NORDYNE is adding 400 jobs and Briggs & Stratton is adding 200 jobs.

"Hopefully more industries will look favorably on the industrial park," Matthews said.