COMMISSION STILL WAITING FOR DATA ON I-55

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission won't decide interchange priorities until the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department produces some hard facts.

The highway department has asked commissioners to rank two potential Interstate 55 interchanges -- one that would lead into Jackson and another on Highway E near Oak Ridge.

To help make the decision, on June 1 commissioners requested traffic counts for Route E and Highway 61 near Oak Ridge and the other at Shawnee Avenue and Highway 61 in Jackson. They also wanted information about potential development on Highways 25, 34, 61 and 72, as well as about areas with the potential for quick growth.

The highway department hasn't sent any information yet, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said.

He had been told the highway department would get the information in his hands for Thursday's commission meeting.

The commission indicated the matter would be decided by the end of June.

"We get the impression they are wanting us to substitute one interchange for the other, eliminating one," Jones said. "What we would like to do is keep both on the list somehow."

The primary factor in making the decision would be potential economic growth for the county, he said.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander sent the commissioners a letter on June 7 indicating that between 600 and 700 cars pass by at Shawnee Avenue and Highway 61 during the morning rush hour, between 6 and 8.

The proposed Jackson interchange would hook up with the East Main Extension between the existing exits for Jackson-Cape Girardeau and Jackson-Fruitland.

Jackson already has invested $400,000 in its East Main Extension project. Future expenditures would be rendered useless without the interchange.

"While we submit that this data that was collected is soft data, just simple old country ciphering would tell us that there are many, many Jackson residents that would utilize this interchange on I-55 on a daily basis," Sander wrote in his letter to the commission.

He added that the interchange would open up part of Jackson to development of residential and commercial property, and some developers already had expressed interest.

While Oak Ridge officials haven't provided any traffic data, many citizens have called the commission expressing support of the interchange, Jones said.