JACKSON TO EXTEND MAIN ST. (BORDER TALKS, JACKSON AND CAPE GIRARDEAU)

Extending Jackson's East Main Street to Interstate 55 is of immediate importance to Jackson, which is struggling with the traffic problems of a growing city that has only one major east-west artery. But in the long term, the benefits of a new northern interchange at I-55 could be great for Cape Girardeau as well.

Those are the reasons the East Main Street extension will be one of the issues discussed when the Jackson Board of Aldermen and Cape Girardeau City Council hold an historic joint meeting Jan. 26.

Jackson already has committed to spending approximately $1 million to complete the first phase of the street, which would extend it 2,000 feet east from Shawnee Road. That extension would connect with an existing part of East Main Street that runs east as far as Oak Hill Road.

Phase one is to go out to bid no later than June 1, 1998.

Going ahead with the second phase from Oak Hill Road to I-55 is contingent on whether the Missouri Department of Transportation approves building the interchange.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander and Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III think MoDot will be more disposed toward the project if both cities are backing it.

"When we go back to MoDot, and also with the county commission being on board with this, we will have a much better case to plead for ourselves," Sander said.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission passed a resolution in support of the interchange in 1995.

"One of the things MoDot looks for is a cooperative effort," Spradling said.

Jackson has been lobbying the Missouri Highway Commission for the interchange for about two years. The project was added to the commission's 15-year plan, but that plan subsequently was scrapped.

The commissioners told Jackson officials they are more receptive to projects when the communities involved commit money to them. Earlier this month, the Jackson Board of Aldermen voted to spend city transportation tax funds to complete the first phase of the East Main Street extension.

"We put our money where our mouth is," Sander said.

He thinks Southeast Missouri road projects have not gotten their fair share of state and federal money.

"You can go to St. Louis and Branson and see concrete being poured every day," he said.

Sander hopes the extension and interchange can be completed in five years. Besides giving Jackson traffic another much needed outlet, the extension also would improve movement for fire and police vehicles and lead to more development along the interstate.

The land on the Jackson side of the proposed interchange is owned by Southeast Missouri State University and by Litz Brothers Inc.

Anticipating future growth is Cape Girardeau's interest in backing a northern interchange at I-55.

"Our master plan shows growth in that direction," Spradling said. "There probably will be some commercial growth, but it's another area we're growing residentially. We're already moving that direction up Route W."

The interchange would provide access to another route planned across the north end of the city. "Ultimately we will probably grow to the point where it will extend across to the east," Spradling said.

Kent Bratton, director of planning and zoning for Cape Girardeau, said the general route of the envisioned arterial street would follow County Road 618. The unnamed artery would then connect with Highway 177.

According to Cape Girardeau's plan, a new outer road also would be built parallel to I-55.

The land on the Cape Girardeau side of the interchange is part of the farm owned and operated by Southeast Missouri State University.

Spradling said the money needed to develop Cape Girardeau's side of the interchange might be part of a second transportation sales tax agenda. That tax would have to be approved by voters.

He envisions a timetable of 7-10 years before anything would be built on the Cape Girardeau side of the interstate.

One of the purposes of the joint meeting is to let Cape Girardeau officials know what Jackson's East Main Street plans are, Sander said. "If we're accelerating our end of it ... obviously it will accelerate the completion date.

"Cape needs to know that and know what our timetable is."