HIGHWAY PLAN DRAWS CONCERNS; MORE THAN 160 PEOPLE ATTEND ROUTE 34 MEETING

Ed and Anna Gerler know the southernmost alternate route the Missouri Department of Transportation is studying for a new bypass to ease traffic between Cape Girardeau and Jackson would ease congestion between the two cities and on Highway 25.

But the Gordonville couple is afraid the new road would take up a good chunk of their nearly nine-acre property.

The Gerlers were among 166 people who aired their concerns Tuesday night at a public meeting held by MoDOT to get input on the state's Highway 34-72 and Highway 25-74 projects. The meeting was held at the Holiday In Convention Center in Cape Girardeau.

Part of the Gerlers' property backs onto Highway 25 just where the southernmost of MoDOT's alternative plans dip south before turning east to connect with the new Highway 74 interchange at Interstate 55.

The Gerlers say they understand the need to reduce traffic congestion on Highway 34 between Jackson and Cape Girardeau, and they don't really have a strong preference for any of the nine proposed alternates to create a bypass connecting the intersection of Highways 34 and 72 with the new Highway 74 at I-55.

"We'd just as soon not see it at all," Ann Gerlach said.

Ed Gerlach wonders why the state can't just reroute traffic along the existing Route K and Highway 25 corridors.

He said he realizes his suggestion wouldn't help traffic congestion, but "I hate to see them taking more ground and covering it with concrete."

John Mehner, president of Cape Girardeau's Chamber of Commerce, worries that a portion of the plan, which dips south from Route K near Gordonville to hook up with I-55 at Highway 74, runs through the new Notre Dame High School property.

"Obviously there would have to be some concern about the layout," Mehner said.

The chamber asked that that segment be reconsidered.

Another alternative under study would take the bypass south from the 34-72 intersection, past County Road PP and continue south through Gordonville and east along Route K, terminating at the I-55-Route K interchange.

That option, Mehner said, would dump too much additional traffic into the already overcrowded interchange.

The more southerly route would provide a link between Route K and the new interchange and open an area for development.

Concerns voiced by the Gerlers, Mehner and everyone else who showed up to review the highway proposals will be taken into account as the state chooses its preferred alternates for both projects, said DawnRae Clark, project manager for MoDOT.

MoDOT hopes to announce its preferred alternates for both projects by fall. Construction won't begin before 2002, Clark said.

The alternative for the Highway 34-72 project, although favored by both cities, isn't perfect, according to MoDOT. It is the second-longest -- 11.34 miles -- and second-most expensive, at $82 million, of the nine options under study. And it would impact several homes along Wolf Lane.

It would also open up a southern corridor for development in Jackson, and unlike another alternative avoid Grandview Acres and Kasten Clay Products.

The cheapest, with a $22 million price tag, would widen Highway 34 to five lanes through Jackson. But it wouldn't take traffic out of Jackson.

Preliminary cost figures range from $22 million to $89 million.