MEETINGS SET ON STREET, STATE ROAD PROJECTS; OAK RIDGE INTERCHANGE TO BE TOPIC

The Missouri Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting Aug. 25 on a plan to construct an Interstate 55 interchange on Route E near Oak Ridge.

The meeting will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Oak Ridge School cafeteria. No formal presentation is planned. Instead, the meeting will give people an opportunity to view plans for the interchange and speak with MoDOT representatives.

Aerial photos and detailed displays of the site will be exhibited.

The interchange would provide a direct link between Oak Ridge and I-55 to the east.

"It will help the folks in the Pocahontas, Fruitland and Oak Ridge areas of northern Cape County," said MoDOT project manager Lynelle Luther. "It will be a benefit for emergency response, the school system and residents by improving their ability to move around the county."

The idea has been discussed for 23 years, Luther said. A well-attended prelocation public hearing was first held in October 1975, but transportation officials didn't apply for federal funds until July 1979. That same year, the interchange was omitted from a Cape Girardeau County highway master plan but was endorsed for future construction.

In February 1991, the Missouri Highway Commission received a petition bearing the names of 500 county residents, and in June 1995 the Cape Girardeau County Commission recommended priority status be placed on the project. In October 1995, MoDOT made a formal request for the interchange, and the Federal Highway Administration approved it four months later. In May 1997, the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission's transportation advisory committee recommended the project as a regional highway priority.

Right-of-way acquisition would begin in 1999, construction would start in 2000 and the project would be completed in 2001. No homes or businesses would be relocated.

Luther said the project is estimated to cost $2 million. The cost would be kept down because there already is a bridge over the interstate, she said. The only construction would involve ramps and minor adjustments to outer roads, she said.

"The time has just been right for this project, and it's been coming together well," she said.