MODOT PROPOSES WEST JACKSON PARKWAY

JACKSON, Mo. -- Since proposed in 1994, the plan to improve traffic congestion in the west part of Jackson has evolved from a three-lane widening of Highway 34/72 to an array of bypass possibilities to the five-lane widening of the highway decided upon in 1998. Now the Missouri Department of Transportation wants to turn the 3 1/2-mile stretch of road into a four-lane parkway with a four-foot-wide landscaped median strip down the middle.

The aim of the new plan is to manage access along the road by limiting left turns and spacing traffic signals. The result will improve safety and smooth the movement of traffic through the area, engineers say.

Except in limited situations, MoDOT has decided not to build more roads with two-way turn lanes (such as East Jackson Boulevard in Jackson and Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau), says Scott Meyer, MoDOT's district engineer.

The five-lane plan for Highway 34/72 is dead, he said. "This is the way we think it should go."

Mac Finley, a permit supervisor with MoDOT in Jefferson City, Mo., cites studies that show higher levels of access management reduce accidents and allow the road to accommodate more traffic.

A parkway also is more aesthetically pleasing than "the sea of concrete we traditionally see," he said.

By enabling customers to dirve to their destinations faster, access management also has shown to increase the size of a community's business region, Finley said.

In the past two years, MoDOT has been studying highway designs in other states and has decided that managing access has the most benefits to travelers, Meyer says. The parkways in Florida are an example of the design MoDOT finds desirable.

The median concept does mean that traffic will have to move in more circuitous routes, Meyer said. "That's the negative part."

Same land needed

MoDOT engineers briefed City of Jackson and Jackson school officials on the new plan during an informal meeting Tuesday at City Hall. The $10 million estimated the cost of the Highway 34/72 project would not change, they said, while the amount of land and the number of houses to be taken under the former plan and the new plan are about the same. A few of the specific houses to be taken might be different, they said.

Jeff Wachter, a transportation project designer for MoDOT, said traffic signals would be installed approximately every one-fourth mile. In addition to the traffic signals currently at the intersection with Highway 25 and at West Lane, signals would be added at Farmington Road, West Main Street and East Lane. Signals at some intersections would allow U-turns. Access to some streets might be closed, while other streets would have right-in, right-out access only.

Other than the signalized intersections, the only left turn being contemplated is at Pioneer Orchard.

The anticipated speed limit on the highway would remain at 40 mph, Wachter said.

The bridge over Hubble Creek would be replaced. Another part of the plan includes construction of a sidewalk and biking trail from Oklahoma to East Lane.

At this point, MoDOT has "a concept, not a design," Meyer said.

Whether these streets are closed probably will depend on public input, he said. A meeting to discuss the plan with the public will be held within a month.

Money has been committed for the acquisition of right of way scheduled to begin in 2003, with construction of the first phase of the project to start the following year. That money has not yet been committed.

The first phase runs from the intersection of Highway 25 and Highway 34/72 to West Main Street. The second phase will run from West Main to the intersection with County Road 328, with the third phase on out to the Highway 34 intersection.