`A' ROAD PROJECTS BYPASS 15-YEAR PLAN

The Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation has delayed bidding on several projects in Southeast Missouri to make sure Proposition A-funded work moves forward.

The delayed projects -- part of the state's 15-year construction plan -- "should get back on within 30 to 60 days," said state highway commissioner John Oliver of Cape Girardeau. "It's just restoring the way it was originally intended."

"We are trying to get the Proposition A projects done first," said Bob Simpson, a District 10 construction engineer. "That was our commitment to the public."

Proposition A, approved in 1987 by Missouri voters, pumped millions of dollars into the highway department for road construction. Other projects included in the highway department's 15-year plan are a combination of other state revenue and federal funding.

The shift in priorities is to get all of the Proposition A projects under construction by 1998.

Oliver said the delays are because of a "total review" of the department's plans for the state's highway improvements.

"We just put everything under review to fulfill our first promise," Oliver said.

Some projects are "going to slide 60 or 90 days behind" while things get worked out, he said.

Barry Horst, a District 10 design engineer, said one project removed from the March bids is the U.S. Highway 60 improvement between Fisk and Poplar Bluff.

"It's just been delayed," Horst said. "It's not been canceled or anything like that, but some of the projects could be delayed anywhere from three months to three years."

However, U.S. 60 between Dudley and Fisk, an area just east of the delayed project, is a Proposition A-funded project. The timetable for its completion will be moved up.

U.S. Highway 60 is the highest priority project in District 10, Horst said.

Oliver said much of the Proposition A money has gone to outstate Missouri because "the metro areas of the state -- St. Louis and Kansas City -- can't get their act together."

The delayed projects are in no danger of not being completed, he said.