HIGHWAY OFFICIAL PROVIDES GLIMPSE ON ROAD TO FUTURE

Missouri Highway and Transportation Department District Engineer Freeman McCullah provided a glimpse into highways of the future, plus an update on current and upcoming projects during the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee.

"The majority of the drivers of the 21st Century will be over age 50," said McCullah. "We went through an era when drivers were in their teens and 20s. Now it's going to be a different driver, with different needs, as our population continues to age."

Because of that aging process, McCullah said changes are coming in the way highways are signed and driving lanes striped. "Road signs are going to get bigger as drivers get older, so they can see them better," he said. "The yellow lines marking no passing zones will also have to be extended because it will take longer to pass other cars. Older drivers do not react as fast."

McCullah said instead of the familiar fixed traffic signs along the side of the road that might be struck by vehicles, future highways will have heliograph signs whose image is projected out into the driving lanes, ahead of oncoming drivers. "You'll see the sign, then drive on through the image projected in front of you," he explained.

In reviewing future highway projects, McCullah said a privately financed project will begin shortly to widen Route K to five lanes, from the I-55 interchange west to a point near the last entrance into the Wal Mart Superstore parking lot.

The project will include construction of right and left turn lanes off Route K into the Wal Mart lot, and installation of traffic signals at the intersection of Route K and Siemers Drive, east of the store.

McCullah said the project is scheduled to begin this spring. Completion is estimated late this summer or early fall. Funding will come from Wal Mart and Drury Industries.

In connection with that project, McCullah said the highway department will start work this year on a project to improve the northbound and southbound exit ramps at the I-55-Route K interchange. "We plan to widen the southbound and the northbound exit ramps to two-lane, and install permanent traffic signals on poles at the east end of the Route K overpass," McCullah said. "The temporary signals now located at the west end of the overpass, will also be placed on poles."

McCullah said this project will not be completed until sometime next year. "The preliminary planning is now underway, but we may have to widen the Route K overpass to accommodate the extra traffic. If so, the project is going to take a little longer," he said.

McCullah said a center lane for right and left turns will also be marked along Route K, from Silver Springs Road, east toward Kingshighway.

After all of the traffic signal installation work on Route K has been completed, McCullah said a state-of-the-art, computerized control system will be installed to control and operate the signals.

"This is a totally new concept in traffic control," he explained. "The only other one in existence at this time is in the St. Louis area. When the system is on-line, all of the traffic signals on Route K and on Kingshighway, from Highway 74, north to the new Mt. Auburn, Lexington intersection, will be traffic actuated and computer controlled.

"Sensors in the pavement at each intersection will feed data back to our office in Sikeston. If need be, we can take control of the signals from there," McCullah explained. He added the traffic signal computerization project will not be completed until the fall of 1993.

McCullah said notices are going out this week for a public hearing that will be held April 27 in the Bollinger County Courthouse at Marble Hill.

He said the meeting is to gather input to determine project priorities for the 15 year, 14-county, Southeast Missouri highway road improvement program.

There will be three sessions: at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m., for public officials, organizations and individuals to submit written or oral comments. "We want public input as to what priorities should be developed for this plan," McCullah said. "Out of those priorities, the improvements will actually be determined."

McCullah said the 15-year plan will be financed by proceeds from a state gas tax increase that will be phased in over five years.

He noted that all cities and counties will benefit from the tax increase. "When the tax is fully implemented in 1996, Cape Girardeau County's share of gas tax revenue will go up from $412,000 to $614,902 each year. Cape Girardeau's share will increase from $800,000 to $1,194,000," McCullah said.

"The new highway plan for Southeast Missouri is ambitious," he observed. "It's what I think we need, but it will take the cooperation of all the communities to make it possible. A lot of decisions will have to be made."

McCullah said when the 15-year program is completed, several major four-lane highways will converge in the Cape Girardeau area, including, Highways 25, 34, and 72. "There will be direct access to Jefferson City, Van Buren, Lake of the Ozarks, and if we can get Illinois going, maybe a good highway towards Paducah."

McCullah said the 15-year construction program will shrink travel times and distances in all of Southeast Missouri. "People can live in one town and work in another, using modern, safe highways to travel on," he said.

On another item, McCullah said the state continues to acquire right-of-way for the connecting road through Cape to the new Mississippi River bridge. "We are prepared to ask for bids on the first part of that project sometime this year," he said.

McCullah said planning for the Nash Road extension into the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority is continuing. He said soil tests from the Diversion Channel bottomland were taken last month and are now being analyzed.

"We would like to start construction of the port road as soon as possible, hopefully, early this fall," he said. "However, this project may take longer than most of our road projects because of the amount of fill that will be required along the right-of-way from I-55 to the port site."

McCullah said the dirt fill must be allowed to set and compact before any roadwork can begin. "It is vital this compaction occur before any work on the road begins," he said. "It could take up to two to three years for this to take place."

McCullah said while the dirt fill is compacting, work can continue on construction of a bridge over the Ramsey Diversion Channel, and possibly a bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks on the Cape Girardeau subdivision.