ILLINOIS ROUTE 3: PAVING EXPECTED TO START ON HIGHWAY THIS SPRING

THEBES, Ill. -- More than 90 percent of the earthwork is completed for a four-and-a-half mile road relocation project between Thebes and Olive Branch in Southern Illinois.

"We're still close to target projections for the project," said Illinois Department of Transportation District Engineer Bob Zieba at Carbondale. "The 4.5 miles of relocated highway is scheduled to be opened to traffic by fall of 1994."

This is only a few months past the original projection of spring 1994.

Zieba said some concrete work could get under way during this spring.

"All of the box culverts and drainage structures are in," he said. "Everything depends on the weather now."

Zieba added that workers have been making good progress on the earthwork, and that bids on the concrete work would be let this month.

The IDOT will open bids Friday for a number of road and bridge improvement projects throughout the state at an estimated value of $111.2 million.

"The paving work for the new alignment of Route 3 will be among those bids," said Zieba. "I think we can see some of the paving this summer.

"Most of the remaining groundwork is in the northern area of the project, where we'll tie into the existing highway near the Thebes intersection," said Zieba.

"Weather conditions are critical now," he said. "Everything we have left to do depends on it. We've made good progress on the earthwork throughout much of 1992, but ran into weather problems late in the year."

Most groundwork was expected to be completed in November 1992.

"But, if the paving bids come in as expected, some paving could get under way this summer on the south end of the project," said Zieba.

The estimated cost of the paving project is $3 million to $3.3 million.

Groundwork has been completed at the southern end of the project, at what is referred to as the Twente-Crossing intersection, said Zieba.

"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.

"Motorists will find a noticeable difference once the project is completed," said Zieba. "The existing, narrow, winding and hilly highway will be a much flatter grade with fewer steep hills and sharp bends than the existing highway."

Once 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 current work is the final phase of a three-phase project begun in the late 1980s, replacing a total of 7.5 miles of highway which department officials say was constructed between 1932 and 1935, and has been functionally obsolete for more than 20 years.

Phases I and II of the project intersection and bridge work at Thebes and a 1.8-mile scenic highway along the Mississippi River from near Gale to Thebes were completed during the first three years of the overall project.

Plans for the Phase III work between Thebes and Twente Crossing north of Olive Branch call for 24-foot wide highways and eight-foot blacktop shoulders.

"That's about double the space of the old roadways," said Zieba.

Presently, the old roadways have 20-foot pavements and little or no shoulders in some areas.

Zieba said the daily traffic count along the 4.3-mile stretch shows that an average of 2,200 vehicles travel the road each 24-hour period.

"About 10 percent of these vehicles are semi-trailer trucks," he said. "When this phase is completed, you're going to have a much safer and scenic route," said Zieba.

The area between Twente Crossings into Olive Branch along Route 3 was resurfaced with new 24-foot pavement two years ago, and improvements were completed earlier along Route 3 into Cairo.

"When this 4.3-mile section is completed, motorists will find an improved Illinois Route 3 all the way from Cairo to Chester," said Zieba.