Jackson bridge to open east-west corridor

A formal groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning signaled the start of work on the East Deerwood Drive bridge over Hubble Creek, a project Jackson Mayor Barbara Lohr says will help facilitate travel in the area.

The Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society will cover the cost of the project up front, about $419,000.

That figure will also pay for the construction of a connecting roadway to North High Street (northbound U.S. 61) and related storm sewer and utility structures.

The understanding is that the city of Jackson has about two or three years to pay back half of the costs, said Jim Roach, administrator for the city of Jackson.

Without the medical society's offer to front the money for the project, the bridge was barely on the horizon where the city's major street plan priorities were concerned, Roach said.

"It wasn't even on the five-year plan," he said.

The construction will provide an east-west corridor, access to the housing development at Deerwood Drive and an avenue for greater development projects along U.S. 61 later on.

The money for the city's portion of the project will likely come out of the transportation sales tax, which takes in about $1 million a year, about half of which goes for maintenance of city streets.

Roach said the bridge would not have been possible without a "consortium of private entities" like the medical society and developer Ron Clark, who donated some of the land for the project.

The medical society got involved in the project in part because it hopes to someday help fund a community center adjacent to the property, and the bridge will provide necessary access if that ever happens.

"They saw this as a critical part of the infrastructure," Roach said.

The project, slated for completion in April, may coincide with the Missouri Department of Transportation's plan to pave and widen the shoulders of U.S. 61.

To further facilitate higher amounts of traffic in the area and increase safety, turn lanes will be installed in both directions at the Deerwood Drive and U.S. 61 intersection at some point after the completion of the project, Roach said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245