HIGHWAY 3 RELOCATION WORK IS ON SCHEDULE, SAYS DEPARTMENT

THEBES, Ill. -- Earthwork on the Thebes-to-Twente Crossing Road portion of the $13 Million Illinois Route 3 relocation project is proceeding on schedule, the Illinois Department of Transportation reported Wednesday.

"We've been making fairly good progress on the earthwork this year because of good weather, at least until this week," said department District Engineer Bob Zieba at Carbondale. "About 70 percent of the earthwork is completed. All of the box culverts and drainage structures are in."

Zieba said the 4.3 miles of relocated highway is scheduled to be opened to traffic in early or mid-1994. The other section of relocated highway between Gale and Thebes was opened earlier this year.

While some work has been done at the north end of the project near Thebes, Zieba said the most visible progress is at the southern end of the project near Olive Branch. Several deep ravines for the new highway right-of-way have been filled and brought up to a grade higher than the existing highway, he said. The new highway will also have a much flatter grade with fewer steep hills and sharp bends than the existing highway.

Zieba said all of the rock fill for the highway is being removed from existing rock taken from deep cuts made in the hills for the new highway.

Zieba said all earthwork should be completed by November. The earth fill will be allowed to settle and compact this winter, he said.

"Next spring, depending on our budget, we plan on taking bids for the start of paving," he said. "If the weather cooperates, and there are no strikes or some other unforeseen problems, we hope to have the pavement completed and the highway open to the public in early 1994. That's a conservative estimate, so it might be a little later in the year."

After the new highway is opened, Zieba said the existing sections of Route 3 will be left open for residents who live along the old highway.

The five-phase project began in the late 1980s. The 7.5 miles of new highway will replace a highway that department officials said was constructed between 1932 and 1935, and has been functionally obsolete for more than 20 years.

The existing narrow, winding and hilly highway between Gale and Twente Crossing Road has been the scene of numerous accidents resulting in serious injuries and fatalities.

The roadway is heavily traveled by motorists and truckers going to and from Interstate 55 at Cape Girardeau and I-57 at Cairo and I-24 at Paducah. A large number of semi-trucks use the highway to haul wood chips to the Westvaco paper plant in Wickliffe, Ky. It also carries a large amount of daily commuter and shopping traffic from extreme Southern Illinois to Cape Girardeau.