East Main Street-Interstate 55 interchange moves forward

Mayors of Cape, Jackson say they've reached an informal agreement on the project.

Negotiations on an interchange for East Main Street and Interstate 55 took an optimistic step Friday.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the city councils in Cape Girardeau and Jackson would receive proposals soon, meaning officials have come to an informal agreement that would allow the project to be handed over to the Missouri Department of Transportation for final engineering and construction.

Sander said both he and Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson wanted to share the information with council members before releasing details to the public.

"I can tell you that discussions today moved the project forward," Sander said. "All parties are extremely optimistic that we can bring this to a conclusion in the very near future."

Cheryl Ball, interim district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said before Friday's meeting that she was going to set an Aug. 1 deadline for an intergovernmental agreement among all of the parties: Jackson, Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri State University, the Cape Girardeau County Commission and Lorimont Place, which owns a portion of the land needed for right of way.

The university owns most of land around the interchange and has plans to develop a life sciences research complex there.

Ball said MoDOT had other projects in the district that could use the money set aside for the interchange. She said the district would support the interchange project, but it might slip off the five-year plan if a deal wasn't struck soon.

But Sander said he saw no reason why a deal couldn't be in place by Aug. 1.

The interchange project has been at or near the top of Jackson's transportation priorities for years. City officials from Jackson expect the area around the interchange and west of the interchange to be a fertile area for commercial growth as well as another city transportation entrance for a large residential section on the city's east side.

Negotiations, which began in 2002, have stalled at times, resulting in a one-year delay for construction. The project looks likely to be finished in 2008.

Half of the $5.5 million in construction costs is being paid for by MoDOT. The other half will be covered by the local entities.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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