MoDOT seeks input on Route AB project

The extension would increase access to industries on the road.

By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

The plan for a new paved corridor from Highway 25 to Interstate 55 is ready for public consumption.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has invited the public to review its latest big-project-in-the-making, a 3.5-mile extension of Route AB in southern Cape Girardeau County to Highway 25 at Blomeyer.

Construction of the new route would be a partnership with MoDOT and Cape Girardeau County. The purpose of the project would be twofold: to increase access to the industries and the port along Route AB and to ease traffic along Highway 74 near Dutchtown.

"I think it is a good project for the county to get involved in," said the Cape Girardeau area's industrial recruiter, Mitch Robinson. "This will help the farmers haul grain and the loggers haul logs to the port; and it will ease traffic from other roads."

The open house will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

Much of the construction -- the right of way acquisition, the draining and the grading -- will come at the county's expense. MoDOT will do the paving. Once the road is built, the Route AB extension will be maintained by the state, said MoDOT project designer Andy Meyer.

The project will include a new four-way intersection at the intersection at Highway 25/77. County Road 220, the current gravel road which connects AB with 25, will be dead-ended at the railroad crossing.

"We'll take any comments about drainage or about the intersection, whatever people have concerns about," Meyer said.

Following public comments and adjustments, MoDOT will take the plan to the highway commission for approval. After that, the county would be responsible for acquiring right of way. Construction could begin as soon as the spring of 2006.

A gravel road already connects Highway 25 with the industrial park on Route AB.

"For the people who live on a rock road and have semi trucks driving on it, that can be kind of scary," Meyer said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635