PAVING THE WAY: REGIONAL PLANNING COMMITTEE OUTLINES TRANSPORTATION NEEDS

A regional committee hopes its work will help pave the way for transportation improvements in Southeast Missouri.

The Transportation Advisory Committee has proposed nearly 40 transportation projects in its report to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The Missouri Department of Transportation's district office in Sikeston will review those recommendations as well as those of two other regional planning commissions that are in the highway district.

The district office will use those recommendations to develop its own list of transportation priorities, said Scott Meyer, district engineer.

Meyer said his office is looking at projects that could begin as early as 1999. The district office hopes to have its plan in place by this fall.

Some of the projects recommended by the planning commissions also could end up on a list of projects that could be done as part of a statewide improvement plan developed by the Total Transportation Commission, Meyer said.

The state commission favors a tax hike to fund road and other transportation improvements. But the specific improvements have yet to be spelled out.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission set up the area's transportation committee.

The 20-member committee includes city and county officials, and business leaders.

Jackson City Administrator Steve Wilson and Perryville City Administrator Craig Lindsley are among six city administrators on the committee. Cape Girardeau Public Works Director Doug Leslie is on the committee, as is Larry Bock, Cape Girardeau County associate commissioner.

Dan Overbey, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority, also serves on the committee.

Committee members focused largely on short-term projects that could be undertaken in the next four to five years. But the committee did include some long-term projects in their recommendations. The committee made its recommendations in late May.

The list of short-term priority projects includes construction of an Interstate 55 interchange at Route E, as well as widening and straightening of Route B from Perryville to the Interstate 55 interchange near Biehle.

Committee members said the Oak Ridge interchange is needed to improve traffic flow in the north end of Cape Girardeau County.

That project already is on the drawing board. "We are doing design work to build this intersection in the next four to five years," said Barry Horst, project development engineer with the state's district office.

As to Route B, the committee said there have been a number of fatal accidents on that stretch of road.

"It is a very narrow and winding road that needs to be straightened so that motorists can feel safe in using that road," the committee said in its report.

The committee also recommended realignment of the Highway 61 and Route D intersection in Jackson as a high priority.

That project, which includes installation of traffic signals, will be done this summer, Meyer said.

The city of Jackson is handling the realignment work. The state will install the signals, Meyer said.

The transportation committee also is pushing for airport improvements at Cape Girardeau and Fredericktown.

Committee members want the state to help finance the operation of the control tower at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

Some projects such as construction of turn lanes could be done as maintenance projects, said Tom Tucker, executive director of the regional planning commission in Perryville.

The committee's work could boost transportation improvements for the region, Tucker said.

Tucker is executive director of the planning commission in Perryville.

In the past, there wasn't any organized system for Missouri's rural areas to push their transportation needs to the state's Transportation Department.

"The efforts have been too fragmented," said Tucker.

That put rural areas like Southeast Missouri at a disadvantage compared to urban areas, which had active transportation committees in place, he said.

But this year for the first time, the transportation committees of the regional planning commissions in rural areas have been asked by the state to identify specific transportation needs, Tucker said.

Transportation needs should be considered on a regional basis, he said. "When you stop and think about transportation now, it doesn't end at the city lines. It doesn't end at the county lines. It just keeps going."

Increased funding has accompanied the expanded role of the regional committees, Tucker said.

Tucker's agency received $21,400 to pay for staff work and other expenses associated with the transportation planning this year.

The committee was organized about three years ago. But with initial funding of only $5,000 a year from the state, little planning work was done, Tucker said.