Jackson firms get reprieve from MoDOT

Some of Jackson's largest businesses are reachable only from Lee Avenue. Long concerned about proposed Highway 34/72 improvements that would restrict access to the street to right-hand turns, the companies received a reprieve Monday.

The Missouri Department of Transportation announced it will shorten a median that would have run west from the intersection of Highway 34/72 and U.S. 61/Highway 25. Lee Avenue is immediately west of that intersection. Instead, the Highway 34/72 widening project will begin at Oklahoma Street, which is .3 miles west of U.S. 61/Highway 25.

At least for now, that means westbound tractor-trailers still will be able to turn left onto Lee Avenue instead of having to drive past the businesses and negotiate a U-turn.

That was good news to the businesses Monday.

"Someone walked in and said, 'There is a God after all,'" said Stone Manes, secretary-treasurer of Ceramo Co.

Ceramo, Kasten Masonry and Rubbermaid are the chief beneficiaries of the MoDOT decision. The Rhodes 101 convenience store at the Highway 34/72 and U.S. 61/Highway 25 intersection also will be accessible to left-hand turns.

No start date for the widening project has been set yet.

Jim Maurer, a partner in the Rhodes 101 stores, was not as happy as Manes. He thinks the agency should change the entire project from four lanes with a median to five lanes.

"I don't understand why we're not going to get a five-lane road all along," he said. "That can help develop the whole strip."

MoDOT originally proposed widening the 3.5-mile stretch of two-lane highway in the city to five lanes but changed the plan due to a policy shift at the state level to four-lane roads. Traffic engineers claim the four-lane roads with a median are safer.

Highway 34/72 has five lanes just west of the U.S. 61/Highway 25 intersection, narrowing to four near Oklahoma Street.

'May not be permanent'

After Monday night's meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen, Mayor Paul Sander said the city lobbied MoDOT for the change because the previous plan cut access in half to about 1,500 members of the city's workforce. He cautioned, however, that the reprieve "may not be permanent concession."

MoDOT said it will monitor left-turn traffic onto Lee Avenue and could reverse the decision if necessary when the counts come in.

The change also affects a MoDOT plan to add turn lanes from Highway 25 onto Jackson Trail and Forest Acres. MoDOT district engineer Scott Meyer said construction of those improvements will be delayed since the project is not beginning at the Highway 34/72 and U.S. 61/Highway 25 intersection.

At Monday's meeting, Sander said he will ask MoDOT to reconsider that decision. With the growth the city has had in the area, "that turn lane can still be justified," he said.

Meyer noted that MoDOT has made 13 changes in its design as a result of meetings with the city. MoDOT has agreed to reconsider its plans for build an 8-foot-wide sidewalk/biking trail that is supposed to connect the city's schools because some city officials have questioned whether it is needed. Sander said MoDOT probably will agree to whatever the city wants in the way of a trail.

Manes said MoDOT's plan to have tractor-trailers make U-turns at intersections to the west was not workable. "They simply cannot make a U-turn with 18-wheelers." He claims the trucks would have to drive about 3 extra miles under the plan.

Ceramo, which manufactures clay pottery, operates five tractor-trailers of its own and receives an average of three common carriers a day.

He said he realizes the decision isn't final yet. "While we're as happy as can be, we have to reserve judgment," he said.

In other business Monday, public works director Rodney Bollinger said the city recycling center will observe extended hours beginning Saturday. The center will be open from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The center previously has been open only four hours. The change has been made to accommodate the increase in recyclables that has occurred since the city began restricting the amount of refuse residents can put out to be picked up.

The city's Cleanup, Fix-Up Week will be held Oct. 14 through 18.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182