MANY ITEMS STUDIED FOR HIGHWAY LIST; SAFETY ON JACKSON ROUTE A KEY CONCERN, SAYS STATE

When Missouri Department of Transportation engineers and consultants established priorities on road projects for Cape Girardeau County, they used a checklist of criteria.

Some 25 to 30 indicators were studied, including a project's impact on wetlands and endangered species, noise, building displacement, safety, traffic and cost.

"We weighed very heavily each option against other options," said Raymond Steege, consulting engineer with QST Infrastructure Inc. the consultant.

On Tuesday, the transportation department announced priorities for Cape Girardeau and northern Scott counties. Thirteen projects, including some that are under way and others that are likely 20 years from now, were discussed.

Three projects that had been top priorities for local officials weren't at the top of the MoDOT project list.

At the top of the state list is a project to widen Highway 34-72 west of Jackson from two lanes to five lanes.

The high impact to traffic flow on Highway 34-72 west of Jackson along with improved safety made it a top priority for the state officials.

Following the project in Jackson were improvements to Route K at its interchange with Interstate 55.

Scott Meyer, district engineer, said the Jackson project is likely to reduce accidents along the narrow route. Entrances to a number of schools are along that segment of roadway. In addition, it is heavily traveled in the morning and evening by people headed to work.

"We are looking at the safety of these children," Meyer said.

Some 26 buildings, mostly homes, would likely be eliminated as part of the project. Anytime the roadway comes within 20 feet of a home, the engineers believe most homeowners would rather move than stay.

The design has some flexibility concerning the structures. "We'll have some people who are ready to move and some who will say, `Not in my lifetime,'" said Meyer.

In the next few weeks, individuals who live along the route will be invited to meetings with MoDOT representatives to discuss the project.

The Route K improvements are needed because traffic continues to increase as the area grows. A large number of new retail stores and other businesses have opened on the west side of the interstate. The east side includes a hospital, shopping mall, several motels and restaurants and a large medical complex.

"It's a place people want to be," said Steege. "We have to address that traffic need."

The three locally identified priorities were an interchange with I-55 at East Main Street in Jackson; a new road connecting the Highway 74 bridge over I-55 in Cape Girardeau to Route K, bypassing the busy intersection; and improvements to Highway 61 and I-55, known as Center Junction, between Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

The East Main interchange and improvements to Center Junction are on the state's improvement list. The Highway 74 bypass isn't.

Steege agreed that the proposed Highway 74 bypass would open the corridor for new development, which local officials believe it would.

"That's not our goal," he said. "Our goal is solving traffic problems."

Highway projects being planned more than five years in advance aren't always absolute. Priorities can shift, said Meyer.

But state highway officials said these plans are at least 95 percent certain.

Local officials, including Jackson Mayor Paul Sander, Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael Miller and Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, have said they plan to continue efforts toward the three priority projects.

Sander and Miller said they will meet with their respective councils to draft a new strategy.

Jones said: "Maybe we will have to be a little innovative. We lost the battle but not the war."