IF I-66 REALITY, STATE WANTS ROUTE

If a proposed coast-to-coast highway becomes a reality, members of Missouri's Highway Commission want the interstate to cross Missouri.

Missouri's Highway Commission met Friday in Jefferson City and decided to send a letter to the state's congressional delegation stating that position.

Commissioner John Oliver Jr. of Cape Girardeau said the commission didn't endorse the I-66 project and didn't select a route.

Steve Forsythe of the highway department said the letter hasn't been drafted and specific language isn't available.

"Endorse is too strong," Oliver said. "Essentially we said if Congress is going to have an Interstate-66 we want it to be in Missouri."

He said the commission's priority remains the performance of the 15-year plan.

"We will expend no political capital whatsoever on the I-66 project," Oliver said.

I-66 is a proposed east-west transamerica corridor that has supporters in states along the route. The idea originated with the Cape Girardeau Regional Commerce and Growth Association about five years ago. A specific route for the highway hasn't been established, but local supporters want it to travel along highways 60 and 34 in Southeast Missouri.

Oliver said commission members agreed that a route along highways 60 and 34 and across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau makes sense.

"The Cape river bridge, Highway 34 and 60 provides a rational and logical corridor," Oliver said. "But to say we picked that route over Sikeston, for example, is not what we did. Designation of a corridor is too strong a word."

Walt Wildman, executive director of the I-66 Project Inc., spoke at the commission meeting Friday.