JACKSON BOARD DISCUSSES TRAFFIC

JACKSON -- Noting that developing the traffic corridors outlined in the city's new Comprehensive Plan and Major Street Plan will take five to 10 years, Mayor Paul Sander says the city needs to tackle its current traffic problems.

"With the extraordinary growth our community has encountered, it has become apparent to everyone that certain traffic bottlenecks have developed and present safety and traffic flow dilemmas," he said.

Monday night, the Jackson Board of Aldermen authorized a traffic study assessing safety, congestion and the flow of vehicles through the city.

The study will be done by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission. The city expects to receive its recommendations by Sept. 1.

Some of the bottlenecks include:

-- The Main and Hope Street intersection.

-- The area surround the Jackson Middle School and Orchard Elementary School.

-- Shawnee Street at Old Cape Road and Main.

-- High Street and Washington;

-- Washington and Hope.

-- Main Street at Jackson Boulevard.

-- And Jackson Boulevard at Cathy Drive.

While the city continues to work with the Missouri Department of Transportation to solve the traffic problems on state highways, Sander pointed out that the city applied along with the city of Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau County Commission to establish a Transportation Commission that enable work on Center Junction to proceed sooner.

In other business, the board:

-- Approved a request to rezone 12 acres of land at 2387 W. Jackson Boulevard from single family residential to general commercial. The land near the city's western edge is now owned by Pascal Dunod and is being bought by Dr. Charles Pewitt for a medical clinic.

-- Approved about $300,000 in contracts for work on the city's Industrial Substation Expansion Project on Lee Street. The money came from a Community Development Block Grant.