MoDOT to add lane over bridge

Faced with crushing traffic congestion on southbound Interstate 55 at Cape Girardeau, state highway officials plan to change traffic flow on the Diversion Channel bridge and turn the shoulder of the road into a temporary driving lane.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials announced the plan Friday afternoon even as vehicles backed up on southbound entrance ramps frustrating motorists caught in the gridlock.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials plan to move concrete barricades and make the changes this weekend to allow for an added lane of traffic across the bridge by Monday morning rush hour.

"We don't have all the answers," said Stan Johnson, MoDOT area engineer. "We hope this will work."

MoDOT plans to use the southbound bridge shoulder as a temporary driving lane in addition to the two northbound and one southbound lanes already in use while the bridge is under construction.

The result will be two lanes of traffic in both directions. MoDOT also plans to reopen the old Highway 74/Kingshighway southbound on-ramps that the agency closed earlier this week in an effort to alleviate traffic tie-ups.

Johnson said the bridge shoulder isn't designed for a lot of traffic. "It won't be the nicest driving surface," he said. But Johnson said highway officials felt they had to act to alleviate the massive traffic congestion.

"We have to do something right now," he said. "We are willing to take the gamble that the shoulder will hold."

Truckers will be advised to stay in the regular southbound lane, he said.

Flooding and construction of an Army Corps of Engineers gravel levee at Dutchtown, Mo., has closed portions of highways 74 and 25 to traffic, adding to traffic congestion caused by construction work on the I-55 Diversion Channel bridge.

Johnson said the traffic changes on the bridge will stay in place until the floodwaters recede and highways 74 and 25 reopen to traffic.

As residents throughout Southeast Missouri worked to cope with flooding, Gov. Bob Holden asked the Bush administration to declare 37 counties disaster areas as a result of storms, high water and tornadoes that have caused damage since May 5.

Holden requested that 22 of these counties be made eligible for individual assistance. The counties include Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Iron, Madison, St. Francois, Stoddard, Perry, Butler, Scott, Ste. Genevieve, Wayne.

The National Weather Service is calling for the flood-swollen Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau to crest at 46 feet on Sunday, a foot less than earlier forecast. The Diversion Channel empties into the Mississippi River south of Cape Girardeau.

But with all the flooding, the channel looks more like a lake than a lazy waterway.

Even if the flood-swollen Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau crests Sunday, Corps officials said the temporary levee at Dutchtown could remain for two weeks or more depending on whether the region gets more rainfall.

Corps Col. Jack Scherer said his agency won't be quick to remove the levee for fear flooding might reoccur. "It makes little sense to take it down," he said.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said she understands the frustration of motorists. Still, she said the town needs the levee.

"It is important to keep people in Dutchtown safe," Emerson said during a meeting with Scherer and other Memphis District Corps officials in Cape Girardeau on Friday.

Emerson and U.S. Sen. Kit Bond had planned to tour the flooded region by helicopter Friday afternoon, but the trip was canceled because bad weather kept Bond and the helicopter grounded in St. Louis.

At Dutchtown, 7,000 tons of crushed limestone has been turned into a temporary levee. About 40,000 sandbags also have been used in the flood fight, Corps officials said. Volunteers continued to sandbag an earthen levee along flooded Hubble Creek in Dutchtown on Friday.

Heavy rains Thursday night along creeks feeding into the Diversion Channel prompted many residents of Allenville, Mo., in Cape Girardeau County to leave their homes Friday rather than risk being trapped in the rising floodwaters. Floodwaters covered a number of roads in the county.

Sheriff John Jordan issued the voluntary evacuation order after as much as 3 to 4 inches of rain fell Thursday night along the Castor and Whitewater rivers and Crooked Creek.

More than 4.5 inches of rain fell in Jackson, Mo., Cape Girardeau County emergency management officials said.

About half of Allenville's approximately 100 residents moved out of their homes by Friday morning, traveling out by car on County Road 238. By mid-morning, floodwaters covered the road again and remaining residents had to depend on small boats or a work car on the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad to get in and out of the town.

Allenville resident Phil Thompson said he and about 50 others stayed behind in hopes of riding out the flood. As of late Friday afternoon, the muddy floodwaters hadn't reached their homes.

"The water is coming up," he said. "We just don't know where it is going to stop."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123