Arriving SEMO students face traffic issues

When students and parents flooded the Southeast Missouri State University campus Thursday, they were met with a Broadway open to two-way traffic and a usable Broadway/Henderson Avenue intersection.

Two-way traffic was opened on Broadway from Pacific Street to West End Boulevard on Monday, where it had been one-way for weeks due to a widening project.

Tom Hadler, project manager with Southeast Missouri State University, said Broadway should be opened to four lanes from Henderson to Houck Place by the end of next week.

The $2.4 million project is a collaboration between the university and city government, with the university paying the initial contract costs and the city reimbursing $1.3 million out of the transportation trust fund for widening Broadway.

Hadler said the priority was to have the two lanes and intersection open by move-in day at the university and to have a parking lot open in front of Houck Stadium. Those goals were accomplished.

However the project has been delayed from its originally projected finish date of Aug. 1. Hadler said problems were uncovered when Broadway's surface was removed. For instance, a telephone line was closer to the surface than expected, causing plans to be redrawn for the project.

Given those delays, he said, progress is going well. Hadler said contractors were out at 3 a.m. Wednesday pouring concrete to expedite the process and open up four lanes to increased traffic that comes with the fall semester.

The entire project, including two monument signs with waterfalls at the intersection, should be completed sometime this fall, said Hadler.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182