LOCAL FUNDING COULD HELP ROAD PROJECTS ADVANCE

With local financial participation, construction of the Center Junction and East Main Street interchange, projects deemed vitally important by local government officials, could be moved up to 2002-2004, Missouri Department of Transportation District Engineer Scott Meyer says.

Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau County officials have criticized MoDOT for giving other projects a higher priority than these. Another project local governments favor, a connecting link between Route K and the state Highway 74-Interstate 55 interchange, isn't among MoDOT's top 13.

The next three projects MoDOT has scheduled for completion are:

-- Improvement of the state highways 34-72 intersection west of Jackson (anticipated completion in 2000).

-- Improving the Route AB (Nash Road) and I-55 interchange just south of Cape Girardeau (anticipated completion in mid-2003).

-- Improving U.S. 61 near Fruitland in conjunction with the Procter & Gamble plant expansion (anticipated completion in 2000).

Widening Highway 72 West between state Highway 25 and Highway 34 is one of the projects that will be funded beyond 2003. Improving Route K at I-55 also is high on MoDOT's list.

Center Junction, U.S. 61 and I-55, and the East Main Street interchange are among the 13 projects MoDOT has prioritized. MoDOT anticipates making the improvements to Center Junction between 2005 and 2006. Construction on the East Main Street interchange is about 10 years off, Meyer said.

But those dates could be moved up considerably with local financial contributions. Meyer said the Center Junction project could be undertaken simultaneous with the widening of Highway 72 or immediately afterward.

A variety of means exist for local governments to raise money for road construction, including formation of Tax Increment Financing districts and developer participation.

Jackson is forming a TIF district to capture tax money that could go towards infrastructure improvements such as Center Junction and the East Main Street interchange. Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau County Commission are negotiating with developer Jim Drury on a cooperative agreement that would allow them to capture some sales taxes to be used for infrastructure.

MoDOT's plans for Center Junction call for moving the westbound lanes of U.S. 61 closer to the eastbound lanes and moving the I-55 access ramps out from their present locations to improve turning movement.

Because improvements along Highway 72-34 are expected to increase traffic through Center Junction, MoDOT is interested in moving construction right along.

East Main poses more questions because the State Highway Commission added the project to its highway program as a "local funding participation project." Originally that meant 25 percent of the funding would have to come from local sources. The commission then decided that a "substantial contribution" would be required along with right of way acquisition by Jackson. That amount currently and informally is 50 percent.

One reason for these stipulations is because the interchange would not connect to a state highway. Requiring local financial participation in such a case is "pretty normal," Meyer said.

Jackson wants to extend East Main Street to provide another eastbound corridor besides Highway 61 taking some of the pressure off the city's north-south feeder streets.

But Highway 61 works well once traffic gets on it, Meyer said, adding that it's not the state's responsibility to alleviate Jackson's internal traffic problems.

"I'm not trying to run down that project," he said. "It has some very good things for Jackson.

Jackson is working on the first phase of a construction project designed to extended East Main Street out to I-55. About $1.2 million will be spent on the first phase and nearly that much on the second.

City officials have said the second phase will not begin until it has a firm construction commitment and timetable from MoDOT.

"We can't move forward with taxpayers' dollars until get some commitment from MoDOT," Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said. "We would be building a road that went nowhere."

If funding is secured, Meyer says, construction on the interchange could begin as soon as the design is complete and the right of way is obtained.

The public differences that have arisen between the transportation visions of Cape Girardeau County's governmental bodies and MoDOT contrast with the genial relationship both groups claim with the other.

Steve Wilson, city administrator at Jackson, says the city has the best relationship with this group of MoDOT engineers of any in recent memory. It's ironic then, that the two groups are now publicly at odds though their meetings continue to be productive.

"There is a good dialogue between MoDOT, the cities and the county, Sander said. "I feel like MoDOT is bending to try to help us."

Meyer says the controversy and discussions are healthy. "We have gotten past the `I wants' and are asking `Why do you want that?'"

He takes some responsibility for the cities' displeasure with MoDOT's project priority list. "Part of it was my fault in how we communicated it," he said.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III was not quite as sanguine as Sander.

The controversy and discussion are good "if they lead to the production of alternatives and we can get something done," he said. "We're still stalemated."

And Sander disputes MoDOT's contention that East Main Street was never a lower priorty than upgrading Highway 72-34. He said East Main and Center Junction both were presented as being in the developmental phase while funding was being sought for Highway 72-34.

Meyer said MoDOT isn't likely to build the Route K link to Highway 74-I-55 interchange because no federal money is available for a project that doesn't have a safety emphasis and is considered "redundant." He suggests that Cape Girardeau could build the highway itself for about half the state's cost because the road would not have to meet the same design requirements.

He said MoDOT continues to try to ease the traffic congestion at the intersection. In a couple of years, a state-of-the-art closed loop signal system will be installed between Siemers Drive and Silver Springs Road to provide the most efficient movement of traffic along the road, Meyer said.

Spradling said he's not concerned about Center Junction. "I think we've got pretty much all players on the same page. It's a question of what we can do."

But everybody agrees that Route K needs fixing. The disagreement is over how to do it, Spradling said.

"Obviously, we don't have the funds to do it," he said. "That's where we're having some problems."