COUNTY ROAD RESIDENTS WANT PAVEMENT

JACKSON -- Almost 400 people signed a petition to get Cape Girardeau County Road 253 paved between Highways A and N, complaining that massive amounts of dust make it dangerous to travel.

The two-mile stretch, which runs between Whitewater and Highway N, crosses over the Diversion Channel. Residents on County Road 253 contend that, since the new Diversion Channel bridge was completed more than a year ago, traffic in front of their homes has doubled.

Farmers going to fields and students and teachers headed for school in Delta always used the road, but since the bridge improvement tractor-trailers and excavating trucks choose to travel it, too, Evelyn Waddle said. Her husband, Mike Waddle, sent the petition to the Cape Girardeau County Commission and a copy to state Rep. David Schwab.

"There are days when the dust is so bad you can't even sit outside," she said. "It was always busy, but since they put that bridge in we have 18-wheelers that couldn't cross the bridge before."

Waddle also said she had to spray water to wash off accumulated dust on her windshield before she could drive her car.

The petition her husband helped compose reads, in part:

"Due to the high volume of commercial and residential traffic, this road has become unsafe. When vehicles meet or travel behind a tractor-trailer truck, vision for all involved is obscured because of thick dust."

Commissioners said they were looking into improving the road even before receiving the petition. A study will help set priorities for road paving throughout the county and determine when needed funds will be available.

Commissioner Larry Bock, who oversees county roads, said he would send a letter to the Waddles explaining that the matter was under review.