JONES CRITICIZES JACKSON ROAD PLAN

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he wishes the Missouri Department of Transportation would steer clear of plans to include a concrete barrier as part of the $13 million, Highway 34-72 widening project in Jackson.

Constructing a four-lane, divided highway could pose a hardship for businesses, Jones told MoDOT officials at a meeting Monday in the commission's chambers.

The busy highway currently is a two-lane road from the Highway 25 intersection to where highways 72 and 34 divide west of Jackson.

MoDOT wants to widen the 3.5-mile stretch to four lanes with an 8-inch high, 4-foot-wide concrete barrier in the middle. The median would be wider and possibly landscaped near major intersections.

A concrete barrier would prevent motorists from turning left, Jones said. "If my business was there, I'd scream and holler," he said.

But Eric Krapf, project manager with MoDOT's Sikeston office, defended the plan.

He said studies show there are 25 percent fewer accidents on divided, four-lane highways than on five-lane routes where the middle lane serves as a left-turn lane.

On highways with more than 28,000 cars a day, a four-lane, divided highway is safer, he said.

Krapf said the highway department plans to add traffic signals at several intersections and put openings at various spots along the route that would allow motorists to make left turns.

But Jones doubts the design would prove safer. "In my non-engineering opinion, you are creating more of a possibility of accidents," he told Krapf and highway designer David Wyman.

Motorists will make more U-turns at the barrier openings, Jones said, adding that the five-lane Highway 34-61 route through Jackson has moved traffic with few problems.

But 1st District Commissioner Larry Bock said there have been numerous accidents in the turning lane on the five-lane route. Bock said a divided highway would have prevented many of those accidents.

The Highway 34-72 project includes:

* Adding new signals at East Lane, West Main, Farmington and Oklahoma streets.

* Upgrading signals at West Lane.

* Building a new bridge over Hubble Creek.

* Widening the Cane Creek bridge.

MoDOT expects to finish preliminary plans by fall. Construction could begin in 2003-2004, Krapf said.

MoDOT staff members have met with business owners along the route. "We are trying to address all their concerns," said Krapf.

MoDOT has no plans for traffic signals west of West Lane but is planning to build several left-turn openings, he said. It's likely that one will be built to handle the traffic in the area of Pioneer Market and Straightway Farm Service.

Sam Beggs owns and operates Pioneer Market. Likes Jones, he prefers a five-lane highway as MoDOT had once proposed.

Reached after the commission meeting, he said the highway is mostly five lanes from the Highway 25 intersection east to and through Cape Girardeau. "It seems to work fine," he said.

Beggs said a divided highway, even with a few left-turn openings, would make it more difficult for customers and shippers to reach his and other area businesses.