Construction far ahead of schedule

While the timing of the development plan at the new Interstate 55 interchange is uncertain, construction at the site has accelerated to the point where motorists will be using it far earlier than planned, Missouri Department of Transportation project manager Andy Meyer said Wednesday.

"If everything keeps going as it has, it very well may be done this year," Meyer said.

Original estimates called for the project to be completed next summer. Motorists will be using the new southbound bridge over what Jackson calls East Main Street and Cape Girardeau calls LaSalle Avenue sometime in November. Traffic will no longer be confined to a single lane around the construction, Meyer said.

"We haven't had a lot of days where weather has impacted the schedule," he said. "For the most part, they have made excellent progress. The contractor has been very aggressive."

Early this week, concrete was being poured for the southbound off-ramp. When that is complete, crews will start paving the 1,500-foot stretch connecting the interchange to East Main Street, which was finished earlier this year.

When that work is done, Jackson will be ready to do business along the new road, said Jim Roach, city administrator. "What we have tried to focus on here at the city of Jackson is to try to get the infrastructure in, the backbone."

Jackson has already hired Koehler Engineering to design the new outer road that will connect East Main Street to Center Junction, a route that will include Orchard Road. The interchange is being built with federal highway funds. Congress in 2005 earmarked $10.8 million for the project at the request of Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, Sen. Kit Bond and then-Sen. Jim Talent. The interchange is costing $8.5 million, and Cape Girardeau and Jackson are splitting the remainder to help build outer roads.

But Cape Girardeau has yet to acquire all the rights of way needed to construct LaSalle Avenue, much less begin construction of the road connecting the interchange to Route W. The property acquisition is in the final stages, Mayor Jay Knudtson said.

LaSalle Avenue should be in place in 12 to 18 months, Knudtson said.

"We are in large part playing catch-up," he said. "It is not from a lack of planning, but that area became virtually overnight a priority for Cape Girardeau."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126