ILLINOIS HIGHWAY WORK SET

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Resurfacing and shoulder work along a 4.2-mile stretch of the Grapevine Trail, which leads from McClure to the Dishwood "Y," is one of a number of Illinois Department of Transportation projects that were bid on last week.

Bituminous resurfacing will start on the road, known as Route 945, about five miles southeast of McClure and continue to the Dishwood "Y" about two-and-one-half miles west of Tamms, which will be the site of a new super-maximum prison.

E.T. Simonds Construction Co. of Carbondale was low bidder on the Alexander County project, at $543,000.

Another big Southern Illinois project will be installation of traffic lights at two Metropolis sites -- Ferry and 5th Streets downtown and at the Route 45-Interstate 24 northbound ramp west of the city. The intersection at 5th and Ferry, which leads to Players Riverboat Casino on the Ohio River, will also be widened and resurfaced.

Other projects in the Southern Illinois area, and anticipated costs, include:

Seeding, mulching and stone rip-rapping along one-and-one-half miles of Interstate 57 from Anna to Dongola, $122,000.

Removal and replacement of a single span bridge over Four-Mile Creek on Route 45 a mile north of Fort Massac State Park near Metropolis, and a single span bridge over Seven-Mile Creek two miles north of Brookport on Route 45, $1,065,000.

Almost seven miles of bituminous resurfacing and shoulder work on Route 94 (Perks Road), from U.S. Route 51 east to the Johnson County Line, $600,000.

Resurfacing and shoulder work along slightly more than one mile of Perks Road, from the Johnson County line to Route 37 south of Whitehill, $200,000.

Meanwhile, work continues on a four-and-a-half mile section of Route 3 from the Thebes "Y" to about two miles northwest of Olive Branch.

"We're still on target of opening this section of Route 3 to traffic by fall of this year," said Bob Zieba, Illinois Department of Transportation district engineer at Carbondale.

More than 90 percent of the earthwork is complete for the road relocation project between Twente Crossing north of Olive Branch and the Thebes "Y." Most of the remaining groundwork is in the northern area of the project, where it will tie into the existing highway near the Thebes intersection.

Once the new highway is opened, Zieba said motorists will find a noticeable difference in the road. The existing narrow, winding and hilly highway will be a much flatter grade with fewer steep hills and sharp bends, he said.

Existing sections will be left open for residents who live along the old highway.

The work is the final phase of a three-phase project begun in the late 1980s involving replacement of seven-and-a-half miles of highway that department officials say was constructed between 1932 and 1935, and has been functionally obsolete for more than 20 years.

The first two phases -- intersection and bridge work at Thebes and an almost two-mile-long scenic highway along the Mississippi River from near Gale to Thebes -- were completed during the first three years of the overall project.

Third phase plans call for a 24-foot-wide roadway and eight-foot blacktop shoulders between Thebes and Twente Crossings.

The area between Twente Crossing and Olive Branch along Route 3 was resurfaced with 24-foot pavement two years ago, and improvements were completed earlier along Route 3 from there to Cairo.