Region prepares roadway 'wish list' for MoDOT

A Southeast Missouri planning committee wants the Missouri Department of Transportation to add seven road and bridge projects in Cape Girardeau County to the state's rolling, five-year transportation plan.

Heading the list is a new two-lane route west of Interstate 55 that would extend from Highway 74 north to Route K and west through Gordonville to Highway 34.

No cost estimates have been made since the seven projects, for now, are just suggestions.

Also on the wish list:

Improving highways 61 and 25 with turn lanes and intersection improvements from Fruitland to Dutchtown.

Construction of a new bridge over Byrd Creek on Highway 72 west of Jackson.

Adding a third lane northbound and a third lane southbound on Interstate 55 from Scott City to Fruitland, constructing an outer road connecting Cape Girardeau and Scott City and building new interchanges at the Scott City and Dutchtown exits.

Improving Route W from its intersection with Lexington Avenue in Cape Girardeau to Coker Road. The latter road, which has not been built, is proposed to connect with the new East Main Street interchange on I-55.

Rerouting Highway 177 from the north city limits of Cape Girardeau to Highway 74 and raising flood-prone sections of the highway north of the city.

Raising the elevation of Old Highway 74 from I-55 to Highway 25 to provide better access during times of flooding along the Diversion Channel.

The Cape Girardeau City Council approved the list of projects Monday night and the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission's transportation advisory committee agreed Tuesday to ask MoDOT to include those projects in the region in the state's five-year road plan.

The proposed projects locally also had the backing of Jackson city government, Cape Girardeau County government, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and Southeast Missouri State University.

"It is a planning tool for both us and MoDOT," said Cape Girardeau city manager Doug Leslie, who attended the committee meeting in Perryville on Tuesday.

Barry Horst, MoDOT project development engineer in Sikeston, said the goal is to look at ways to address traffic needs. "If they give us an idea as to what the need is, we are not pinned down to one particular solution," he said.

Horst said MoDOT staff will evaluate the project requests and determine which ones to recommend to the state highway commission. The commission is expected to decide by next July which projects around the state to add to the road improvements plan, Horst said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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