Jackson, Cape join on plans for roads

Cape Girardeau and Jackson city councils will consider endorsing three proposed state highway projects when they hold a joint meeting Monday night.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson and Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the councils hope to convince the Missouri Department of Transportation to widen Interstate 55 from Scott City to Fruitland, improve U.S. 61 from Fruitland to Jackson and Highway 25 from Jackson to Dutchtown.

City officials want two additional lanes that would result in three southbound and three northbound lanes. Also included in that project would be new interchanges at Dutchtown and Scott City to improve traffic flow at those junctions.

The MoDOT office in Sikeston already has asked the state highway commission to consider those three projects in future road plans.

The Cape Girardeau City Council and the Jackson Board of Aldermen will vote on a joint resolution asking that MoDOT include all three projects in the next five-year transportation plan that would run from 2006 through 2010.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Osage Community Centre.

Prior to the meeting, Cape Girardeau city officials will officially switch on new street lights on North Kingshighway in a 6:30 p.m. ceremony at Cape County Park North. The $177,000 project will illuminate 1.4 miles of the busy highway from the south entrance of Bouldercrest to Interstate 55 where there previously haven't been any street lights.

The Missouri Department of Transportation, along with the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, plan to light the Kingshighway/I-55 interchange later this year.

As for the meeting, Sander and Knudtson said it makes sense for both cities to jointly lobby for highway projects.

"We wield a much bigger stick going together than going our separate ways trying to lobby for these projects," Sander said.

Upgrading U.S. 61 and Highway 25 with turn lanes and intersection improvements will improve traffic flow, safety and access to jobs and schools in Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau and Jackson city officials wrote in the prepared resolution.

"The improvement of U.S. 61 will very much enhance our ability to recruit industry to our industrial park," Sander said. Jackson's new industrial park sits along the highway.

While it's not on Monday's agenda, both Sander and Knudtson said the two cities, Cape Girardeau County and Southeast Missouri University Foundation are close to reaching an agreement on the local share of funding for construction of the new East Main Street/I-55 interchange.

MoDOT will pay 50 percent of the cost. Local governments would pay the other half under a proposed financing plan.

"It will be a tremendous thing to pull that off," Sander said.

"There has been tremendous progress made in the way of a cooperative agreement," Knudtson said. But he said there's no written agreement yet.

Besides the joint resolution, Monday's meeting will include a report updating plans for updating the building codes in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Officials in both cities said consistency in building codes serves the public since many architects, engineers, residential designers and contractors work in both Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

Newer codes are more "user friendly" and provide for alternative methods of construction and building materials, officials said.

Both mayors said joint meetings have fostered cooperation between Cape Girardeau County's two largest cities. That's good for economic development, they said.

"We have our rivalry on Friday night in October when we play football. We can all fight then," Sander said.

But when it comes to local government, the two cities don't need to compete against each other, he said.

Sander helped initiate periodic joint council meetings in 1998 along with then-mayor Cape Girardeau Al Spradling III.

Knudtson said the meetings have helped keep the lines of communication open between officials in both cities.

"I am a big believer that open communication is the key to success," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123