MoDOT proceeding with Center Junction lighting project

Center Junction will soon be under lights while Jackson officials hope MoDOT will light up even more of the city in the coming years.

The Missouri Department of Transportation accepted bids on the project this week, the lowest coming in at $201,784.

Work on the Center Junction lighting project will likely get started in mid-July with completion in the late summer or early fall, said Barry Horst with the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The project is being paid for by District 10 construction money. While MoDOT is funding the entire project, both Jackson and Cape Girardeau are funding it up front plus interest to get the project started this year, saving as much time as two years. MoDOT will reimburse both cities in 2007.

Jackson officials have also announced that the city will seek MoDOT's transportation enhancement funding for two other projects, one which would be an extension of the Center Junction project.

Jackson plans to illuminate East Jackson Boulevard much the same way the city of Cape Girardeau did on Kingshighway. Jackson would like to light the boulevard from Center Junction to K-Land Drive.

The city is also applying for enhancement funds for a recreational trail from North West Lane to Jackson's city park.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the lighting project will be a high priority of his for next year's budget. The trail is not as high of a priority and that project will probably have to wait a while unless the city can get help from MoDOT.

The enhancement funds, as the title suggests, are intended for secondary transportation projects like trails and lighting. The funds do not go toward building roads or highways. The funds come from federal coffers and are distributed by the state's districts.

Bill Robison, planning project manager with MoDOT, said that District 10 has $1.6 million to spend on enhancement projects, more than three times the amount it had last year. Robison said that 15 applications were turned into the district for more than $4 million.

On approved projects, MoDOT will generally pay up to 80 percent of the project cost with the enhancement fund money. However, Jackson has pledged to pay 30 percent of both projects, aiming at earning "points" on the application.

MoDOT will decide on the applications by mid-July, Robison said.

Light the way

Jackson officials are asking for help for the East Jackson Boulevard lighting for the same reason the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau asked for lighting at the Center Junction interchange at the cities' border. They say the lighting will improve safety.

The total project cost is estimated at $452,000. The city would pay for the yearly energy and maintenance cost, estimated at about $9,200 per year. MoDOT did not include lights in its plans when it widened the road in 1990. Since then, the traffic on the stretch has grown dramatically. As of 2001, 24,000 vehicles used the stretch daily. MoDOT has estimated that 35,000 vehicles will use the road by 2022. Twenty-one percent of the 161 vehicle accidents since 1998 at Center Junction occurred during dark hours.

For the trail project, the city hopes to obtain funds for an estimated $233,000 for 1.04 miles of walking trails between North West Lane and the city park. The project would tie in with concrete walking paths recently constructed near the park and the middle school.

According to Rodney Bollinger, public works director, who completed the application form, the trail would provide a better quality of life and improve the "general health, safety and welfare" of the residents in he community.

"In time, parents feel at ease allowing their children to be outdoors more often, and they permit them to walk to school," Bollinger wrote in the report. "... After years of neglect, Jackson's neighborhood street design is returning as a major element of street engineering, town planning and real estate development. ... Walkable streets form the backbone of friendly, interactive, safe, secure neighborhoods."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635