OFFICIALS STUDY AREA ROAD NEEDS

Traffic stops at 10 Cape Girardeau County sites Monday launched a $1.7 million look at the area's transportation future.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Department hired Environmental Science & Engineering Inc. of St. Louis to conduct the transportation survey.

On Monday, company employees asked motorists where they came from and where they were headed. The field work for the study should take three weeks.

ESE personnel also will host a study team meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau.

The team consists of representatives of the Jackson and Cape Girardeau chambers of commerce, municipal officials from Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Scott City, and industrial recruitment experts from the area.

It is the first time the highway department has asked a target group in its District 10 to help assess its region's needs, although groups in other parts of the state have done it independent of the highway department.

District 10 Engineer Jim Murray said the officials picked for the group represent a good cross-section of the communities that will be affected by ESE's findings. The public will be invited to future forums on the area's transportation needs.

Murray compared those upcoming meetings to the ones conducted by Vision 2000, where Cape Girardeau residents talked about the city's road problems and suggested possible solutions.

"The study team can provide valuable information about future growth potential in the county and tell us what they perceive as needs to handle the traffic," Murray said.

Team members are taking a wait-and-see attitude about Wednesday's meeting, reserving comment until they know what information the highway department is looking for. But some do have concerns they want addressed.

County Commissioner Larry Bock, who oversees Cape Girardeau County's road system, said he was most concerned about the traffic flow in and around Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

And industrial recruiter Mitch Robinson said he was interested in Nash Road's extension to Highway 25 and other industry-related projects.

"My concern is that property targeted for industrial development has the best transportation access possible," he said.

The needs study will take about six months. Then ESE will develop plans for specific improvements -- perhaps including the rerouting of some roads. Developing the plans could take 18 to 24 months.