MISSOURI WILL DO I-66 STUDY OF HIGHWAY 34 CORRIDOR

The Missouri Transportation Department of Transportation plans to take a closer look at the Highway 34 corridor as a possible route for a proposed interstate highway.

The state's Highways and Transportation Commission has authorized the agency to do a location and environmental study of Highway 34, between Cape Girardeau and Van Buren.

The commission's approval came at its meeting earlier this month.

Walt Wildman couldn't be happier with the commission's action.

"This is the biggest step for the project in many years," said Wildman, who heads up I-66 Project Inc., a Cape Girardeau-based organization that has been promoting the highway project.

Wildman has lobbied for construction of a four-lane, interstate highway that would cross the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau and then proceed southwest to Van Buren along the Highway 34 corridor.

Wildman was in Washington this past week in an effort to convince Congress to provide federal funds for an I-66 study in Missouri and another one for Illinois.

Such funding could put the studies on a faster track, he said.

"This is a special appropriation," he said. "I am sure some people refer to it as pork barrel."

Wildman estimated the costs at $200,000 for the Highway 34 corridor study and $300,000 for a study on the feasibility of bringing the highway across Southern Illinois.

Wildman said he hopes for a decision on the federal funding within the next several weeks.

The potential I-66 corridor is the result of an earlier study authorized by federal transportation legislation to determine the feasibility of building a transAmerica highway from coast to coast.

The federal study indicated the entire route wasn't feasible. But building some of the segments, including one through Missouri, could be feasible, highway officials have said.

Two of the main routes to Van Buren for a new interstate include Highway 34 and Highway 60.

In addition to the Highway 34 study, the Missouri Transportation Department plans to study the feasibility of constructing a Mississippi River bridge at Wickliffe, Ky., that would follow the Highway 60 route.

The study will look at the possibility of constructing a toll bridge whose fees could be used to support a proposed I-66 segment extending from the Mississippi River to Interstate 44, west of Springfield.

The study will take place within a year. MoDOT's office in Jefferson City will conduct the study.

The Highway 34 corridor study will be done by MoDOT's district office in Sikeston. The study will begin in 1998 and could take 18 months to complete, said Scott Meyer, district engineer.

Meyer said the study will look at whether the route poses any environmental problems, including the possible impact on wetlands, national forests and historic structures.

"I think the big thing for Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri is that we are moving ahead on an east-west corridor that has been desired for some time," he said.

That doesn't mean, however, that Highway 34 definitely will be upgraded to an interstate.

The state could end up upgrading the road to a "super two," an improved and straighter two-lane highway, Meyer said.

As part of that work, the state could buy right of way that would allow two additional lanes to be built, if warranted, in the future.

The Highway 34 corridor was previously identified as part of the department's 1992 long-range plan.

Wildman said an improved two-lane Highway 34 would be a practical solution. "In essence, this would create a safer route," he said.

Wildman doubts it would be economically feasible to build a new bridge across the Mississippi at Wickliffe.

The river is wider there than at Cape Girardeau, where a new bridge is already under construction.

The bedrock is farther down too, adding to construction costs, Wildman said.

He estimated a bridge across the river at Wickliffe could cost $350 million.

"It would take one heck of a lot of tolls to offset the cost of a bridge at Wickliffe," said Wildman.